Puppet MastersS


Red Flag

Ex-EU boss says Ukraine too corrupt to join


RT
Thu, 05 Oct 2023 20:25 UTC
Jean-Claude Juncker
© Andreas Arnold/picture alliance via Getty ImagesFormer President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker
Deep-rooted and widespread corruption means that Ukraine will not be able to join the European Union any time soon, former President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker has said. In addition, earlier this week, Politico reported that the US government is putting pressure on Kiev to combat graft more effectively.

In an interview with Germany's Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper published on Thursday, Juncker warned that Brussels "should not make any false promises to the people in Ukraine who are up to their neck in suffering." He criticized those within the EU "who are leading the Ukrainians to believe that they could become a member state immediately." According to the former official, such a scenario would be detrimental to the bloc and Ukraine.

"Those who have dealt with Ukraine know that this is a country that is corrupt at all levels of society," Juncker charged. He noted that the Eastern European nation would first need to conduct "massive" reforms.
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Smoking

UK prime minister wants to raise the legal age to buy cigarettes in England so eventually no one can

Sylvia Hui
Associated Press
Wed, 04 Oct 2023 19:50 UTC
smoking
© AP Photo/Kristy Wigglesworth
U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Wednesday proposed raising the legal age that people in England can buy cigarettes by one year, every year until it is eventually illegal for the whole population and smoking will hopefully be phased out among young people.

Setting out his plan at the annual Conservative Party conference, Sunak said he wanted to "stop teenagers taking up cigarettes in the first place."

It is currently illegal for anyone to sell cigarettes or tobacco products to people under 18 years old throughout the U.K.

Sunak's office said the incremental changes would stop children who turn 14 this year and those younger than that now from ever legally being sold cigarettes in England.

If Parliament approves the proposal, the legal change would only apply in England — not in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
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Bullseye

Western prosperity based on worldwide pillage - Putin


RT
Thu, 05 Oct 2023 19:44 UTC
putin valdai 2023
© Sputnik/Grigory SysoevPutin delivers a speech during a plenary session as part of the 20th annual meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club titled "Fair Multipolarity: How to Ensure Security and Development for Everyone" in Sochi, Krasnodar region, Russia
The prosperity of the collective West is largely based upon the "pillage" of its colonies all around the globe, Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed.

The president made the remarks on Thursday as he spoke during the plenary session of the 20th meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club in Sochi.

The entirety of Western history has been about "endless expansion," and it still pursues such an approach with the whole world to keep its prosperity, he asserted.

"Western influence in the world is a massive military-financial pyramid. It constantly needs new fuel to support itself: natural, technological, human resources belonging to others," Putin told the plenary session.
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Dominoes

Unearthed video shows Trump judge bragging he can alter verdicts if his 'emotions' don't agree

Jason Walsh
The Daily Fetched
Tue, 03 Oct 2023 00:00 UTC
JudgeE
© UnknownNew York District Judge Arthur Engoron
The presiding judge in the New York real estate trial of President Donald Trump once boasted he could change verdicts if he believed the jury got "it wrong."

In a newly unearthed video now circulating on X, the New York District Judge Arthur Engoron is seen telling a college audience he has seen juries frequently reach conclusions he disagreed with.

Engoron says in the video:
"I've had situations where I'm like, oh my... heaven's sake, how could they have thought that? Well, I have a tool that I can deal with that. It's called... judgment notwithstanding the verdict. I can say there is no possible way that a reasonable jury would have reached that conclusion.

"I'm an impartial referee, but it's hard to factor out my own emotions."
The Trump judge suggests he has the power to disregard a verdicts from the jury when he wishes. If a party demands that Engoron dismiss one case due to it being just like another, he raises a sartorial point of objection.
"What if the defendant was wearing a red sweater instead of a blue sweater?"
Watch:


Comment: This guy is 100% a jerk. Have a listen!


Comment: AG Letitia James is a Soros funded appointment. Arthur Engoron, the only candidate for his position at NY Supreme Court, was appointed unopposed.

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Eagle

SOTT Focus: Is The CIA's 'Information War' Now Globalized?

Dr. Joseph Mercola
Global Research
Sat, 30 Sep 2023 00:00 UTC
american propaganda
In 1967, the CIA's covert use of the National Student Association to spread countermessages to communism was revealed by a college dropout named Michael Wood.2 The revelation sent shockwaves through the U.S., and as journalists started to pull at the strings, the the CIA's covert propaganda operations unraveled.

Journalists discovered that the CIA had set up nonprofit foundations to funnel taxpayer money into philanthropic foundations that then sent the CIA's "donations" to organizations that had joined the CIA's payroll to promote government-sponsored propaganda

These included youth organizations and student groups, church groups, public radio and news organizations. Sen. Wayne Morse, D-Ore., slammed the CIA's covert propaganda activities, arguing the agency had created a "credibility chasm" within public opinion — a gap that could not and would not be bridged unless the government made clear that it would "fill the chasm with the truth"

The CIA was never reined in and is more involved in propaganda activities today than ever before

While many still have not realized it, we are at war, and the aggressors are government intelligence and security agencies that have turned their weapon of choice — information — against their own citizens
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Eye 1

Neil Oliver: Lies!

Neil Oliver
YouTube
Thu, 05 Oct 2023 13:33 UTC
Neil Oliver
Neil Oliver
'...we've been had!'

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Cell Phone

MEPs vote against amendment to ban EU governments spying on journalists

Lisa O'Carroll
The Guardian
Tue, 03 Oct 2023 16:35 UTC
eu flags
© Yves Herman/ReutersMembers of the European parliament have said that as spyware is indiscriminate it would be unusable because they will not be able to preserve confidentiality of journalists’ phones.
Politicians opt for change they say amounts to de facto ban on spyware but free speech campaigners dispute claim.

An attempt to stop EU governments from being able to insert spyware on journalists' phones on the grounds of national security is "dead", campaigners have said after a vote in the European parliament on new media laws.

MEPs voted against an amendment to scrap the right to surveil journalists in the European Media Freedom Act in Strasbourg on Tuesday, pitting themselves against free speech campaigners.

Comment: Re: the reference to France, see: See also:

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Briefcase

Hunter Biden pleads not guilty to three federal gun charges filed after plea deal collapses

Lindsay Whitehurst, Claudia Lauer and Randall Chase
KSTP
Wed, 04 Oct 2023 21:27 UTC
hunter biden gun charges
© AP Photo/Matt RourkePresident Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden arrives for a court appearance, in Wilmington, Del, Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2023.
Hunter Biden pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to three federal firearms charges filed after his earlier deal imploded, setting the case on a track toward a possible trial in 2024 while his father is campaigning for reelection.

President Joe Biden's son has been charged with lying about his drug use in October 2018 on a form to buy a gun that he kept for about 11 days. He could face up to 25 years in prison if convicted. When asked by Magistrate Judge Christopher Burke if he understood the charges against him, he said, "Yes, Your Honor."

His lawyer Abbe Lowell said in court he plans to file a motion to dismiss the charges, challenging their constitutionality.

"Mr. Biden pleads not guilty to the three counts that have been brought against him," Lowell said to the judge.
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Bad Guys

NATO member calls for 'security umbrella' to cover Ukraine


RT
Wed, 04 Oct 2023 18:50 UTC
German Lituanian soldiers
© Petras Malukas / AFPGerman and Lithuanian soldiers during an exercise in Pabrade, Lithuania, June 26, 2023.
Ukraine must be covered by NATO's security guarantees, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis insisted on Tuesday. He further urged the West, which has ploughed hundreds of billions of dollars into Ukraine, to take a firmer stance on helping Kiev achieve victory over Russia.

"Ukraine must become a NATO member. NATO's transatlantic security umbrella must also protect those countries that were left in the gray zone of geopolitics," Landsbergis said at a security conference in Warsaw, according to the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry.

Kiev's backers in its conflict with Russia "must do everything to keep Ukraine within its 1991 borders on this side," He demanded, while lauding Germany for agreeing to permanently station 4,000 troops in Lithuania. "Efforts to strengthen the eastern flank depend on our will to defend ourselves," he said.
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Brick Wall

Hybrid war and hybrid peace

Ivan Timofeev
Valdai Club
Tue, 03 Oct 2023 00:00 UTC
marching
© Unknown
Over the past decade the concept of hybrid warfare has firmly established itself in political rhetoric in the West and in Russia. Russian experts have rightly pointed out the vagueness of the concept, its intersection with other concepts (such as irregular wars), as well as the weak scientific base. Nevertheless, the widespread use of the term can hardly be called accidental. There were clearly gaps in the conceptual apparatus of international analytics: the new realities of international relations were not adequately described by existing concepts. The rapid spread of the notion of hybrid warfare has been a spontaneous reaction to such gaps, while the concept really suffers from excessive blurring. It is more suitable for journalism than for science. However, the phenomena that are covered by the concept of hybrid war require reflection and a more rigorous study of this concept. It is also appropriate to ask about the opposite concept - hybrid peace. If there is a hybrid war, is it possible to transform it into a hybrid peace? Is modern diplomacy capable of negotiating a hybrid peace and reaching any sustainable agreements to end hybrid wars?

Comment: Excellent outline of today's diplomatic warfare and the insurmountable difficulties it presents.

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