Puppet MastersS


Star of David

Israeli minister says 'it's my job' to appoint friends


RT
Tue, 15 Aug 2023 18:15 UTC
David Amsalem israel minister appoint friends nepostism
© Miriam Alster, Flash 90Regional Cooperation Minister David Amsalem
David Amsalem has admitted attempting to appoint people "I know and hold in high esteem" to government positions

Israel's Regional Cooperation Minister David Amsalem of the ruling Likud party has rejected accusations that he is engaging in nepotism, after he sought to appoint friends and personal acquaintances to government positions.

"That is my job, due to my authority to appoint directors," Amsalem told Israeli broadcaster Kan on Sunday. "I put forward people that I know and hold in high esteem," he said, adding that this includes people inside of his personal social circles.

Amsalem's comments came after a clash with Government Companies Authority director Michal Rosenbaum, who had reportedly refused Amsalem's appointment suggestions for several government companies. He subsequently called for Rosenbaum to be terminated from her position, the Times of Israel reported on Sunday.

Comment: Sounds like Amsalem wants to enshrine an Israeli version of the government-industry regulatory revolving door. Same old, same old. Netanyahu needs all the friends he can get, and will back Amsalem, one corrupted crony to another.

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Arrow Up

U.S. capitalism and why the glut of 'Wonder Weapons' to Ukraine won't make a difference

Finian Cunningham
Strategic Culture
Tue, 15 Aug 2023 17:44 UTC
Cocaine Head
© Social Media
It is slowly and reluctantly dawning on Western officials and their servile media that the Ukraine counteroffensive is failing. Not only the two-month-old counteroffensive but indeed the entire conflict. Ukraine hasn't a chance of prevailing against Russia's superior forces.

Still, the violence and killing go on. No diplomacy, peace, or sanity. Why?

Only a couple of months ago, the Western media were full of bravado claims that the United States' and NATO's weapons and training would turn the tide for a "stunning victory" against Russia. Today, those same media are meekly reporting on a "grinding counteroffensive" (Washington Post, New York Times, CNN) and "failed expectations" (London Times).

How to explain the glaring conundrum? The United States and its European NATO allies have supplied the Kiev regime with up to $100 billion worth of weaponry over the past year, ranging from battlefield tanks to Patriot missiles. And the military gifts keep coming, with the Biden administration requesting another $12 billion for Ukraine last week. In the coming months, the U.S. and its allies are planning to supply F-16 fighter jets.

And yet all this mind-boggling largesse won't make a difference to the outcome of an eventual Russian victory. Tens of thousands more Ukrainian soldiers will be killed of course and a wider all-out nuclear war with Russia is a reprehensible risk. But why does the insanity continue? Why are Western politicians and media not exploring diplomatic alternatives to the endless slaughter?

A fundamental reason for this debacle and ultimate scandal is the inherent vice of U.S. militarism. American militarism and that of other Western capitalist states is not about the conventional understanding of "military" or "defense" for the purpose of defending nations, or indeed for actually winning wars. The primary purpose of American and Western militarism is to make profits for private corporations, the military-industrial complex.
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Arrow Up

Donald Trump says he has 'close to 100 per cent' chance of beating Joe Biden in 2024 presidential election


National Post
Sun, 13 Aug 2023 00:01 UTC
trump dance turning point USA
© GIORGIO VIERA /AFP via Getty ImagesFormer U.S. President and 2024 presidential hopeful Donald Trump gestures after speaking at the Turning Point Action USA conference in West Palm Beach, Florida, on July 15, 2023.
The 77-year-old also mocked his closest rival for the Republican nomination Ron DeSantis, who he is leading in the polls by more than 40 points

Donald Trump has bragged he has a "close to 100 per cent" chance of beating Joe Biden if he faces him in the 2024 US presidential election.

The 77-year-old — who is facing a maximum of 55 years in prison if found guilty of the four criminal charges against him related to the 6 January Capitol riot and his alleged plot to stay in power — also mocked his closest rival for the Republican nomination Ron DeSantis, who he is leading in the polls by more than 40 points.

Comment: See also:

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Pistol

'Criminal' ex-Ukrainian MP making millions from arms sales


RT
Sun, 13 Aug 2023 14:35 UTC
Former Ukrainian MP Sergey Pashinsky
© Sputnik/Mykhailo MarkivFormer Ukrainian MP Sergey Pashinsky.
A former Ukrainian lawmaker - the subject of multiple corruption allegations - had made millions of dollars from arms sales since the Russia-Ukraine conflict erupted in February 2022, the New York Times reported, on Saturday.

A company allegedly affiliated with Sergey Pashinsky, whom President Vladimir Zelensky once called 'a criminal', has become one of the main arms suppliers for Kiev's military, the paper claims.

It reported that the Ukrainian Defense Ministry contacted the politically isolated Pashinsky shortly after Moscow launched its military offensive.

According to the report, military officials were desperate to procure as much Soviet-type ammunition as possible, and were hoping that the former MP could help by using his informal connections in the arms business.

Pashinsky had previously spent years overseeing military spending, the newspaper noted. It went on to add that Ukrainian Armored Technology, a company understood to be linked to Pashinsky, has since become the "biggest private arms supplier in Ukraine."
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Attention

The 'Free-Speech Twitter' PSYOP

CJ Hopkins
Substack
Mon, 14 Aug 2023 23:11 UTC
Elon Musk
© Substack
It's never a very enjoyable experience, facing the fact that you've been bamboozled. Realizing that you've fallen prey to an elaborate con, or PYSOP, is painful. It's embarrassing. People feel ashamed. No one likes to see themselves as a sucker. It's humiliating. It makes people angry. It makes them want to lash out at someone.

The funny thing is, it usually isn't the person who conned them that they want to lash out at. Doing that would only make them feel more ashamed. No, typically, who people want to lash out at, when they finally realize that they've been bamboozled, are the people who didn't get bamboozled along with them, and who tried to warn them that they were being bamboozled.

This phenomenon is occurring right now. I know this, because a certain sector of my readers are angrily unsubscribing from my Substack, and unfollowing me on Twitter, and so on. This happens more or less every time that people start to realize I was right about some PSYOP or con that I warned them about ... Russiagate, Covid, and now "free-speech Twitter," or "X," or whatever we're calling it today.

Yes, that's right, the jig is up. The bloom is off the rose. The cat is out of the bag. The party is over. The thrill is gone. Folks are finally starting to realize that "free-speech Twitter" was an elaborate con (or a PSYOP, depending on how paranoid you are), and they're none too happy about this realization.
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Bad Guys

Ex-Zelensky aide says 'dehumanizing Russians' has backfired


RT
Mon, 14 Aug 2023 21:26 UTC
Arestovich ukraine
© alexey.arestovich / FacebookAleksey Arestovich
The hateful behavior of "collective Ukrainians" has gifted Russian troops more purpose to fight, Aleksey Arestovich has claimed

A general Ukrainian effort to "dehumanize" Russians has become the main "mistake" made by the country in the ongoing conflict, Aleksey Arestovich, a former adviser to President Vladimir Zelensky said on Sunday.

Speaking to journalist Yulia Latynina, Arestovich condemned the systemic efforts to "dehumanize" Russians, stating that the strategy has clearly backfired and purportedly only gave Russian troops more reasons to fight.

"The main thing we did was to allow ourselves to dehumanize the Russians. This is our main mistake. At first we held on and then we delved into all that with pleasure. The collective Ukrainians, I mean. We allowed that to pour into the internet," Arestovich stated. He added that such behavior gave average mobilized Russians -not professional soldiers- "an excellent motivation to fight."

Comment: Arestovich resigned in January of 2023. Reseau International reported at the time:
Alexei Arestovich, born in the Soviet Republic of Georgia, a former soldier, who became an influencer and adviser to the Head of the Office of the Ukrainian Presidency, was forced to resign for having dared to affirm in front of the cameras that the 44 dead and 77 injured during the he collapse of the building in Dniepropetrovsk is not due to the missile fired by Russia, but to the Ukrainian air defense system, which hijacked this missile. All fanatical regimes devour their children, Arestovich just fell.

[...]

After this recognition of the direct responsibility of the Ukrainian air defense system in the tragedy in the building in Dnepropetrovsk, Arestovich was the object of a very large-scale attack. The Ukrainian Military Command denied, saying in passing that their air defense is incapable of protecting against these Russian missiles anyway ... Arestovich tried to go back on his words, then apologized to the victims and finally resigned on January 17 : " I made a serious mistake, I'm leaving. »

[...]

This error is actually twofold. First of all, it led the Ukrainian army to publicly recognize the fallibility of the Ukrainian air defense system, which was nevertheless presented as infallible. Then, he questions the dominant Atlanticist discourse, according to which Russia is aiming at civilian targets. In times of warrior fanaticism, it is unforgivable and it has not been forgiven him. The Office of the Ukrainian Presidency accepted his resignation.

[...]

Thus, Russia is not a war criminal, if it comes to terrible "collateral damage"... When RFI recognizes that Russia's "real targets" are legitimate targets, "as dramatic and revolting as they are ". It's not just a question of "good words", but of political will: not everything can be said in time of war, because you have to construct the figure of the enemy, a figure without nuances. He was reckless, believing himself to be above the general rules of survival in these puppet regimes. And it's not the first time - these days, Arestovich also began to criticize the repressions of the SBU (the Ukrainian KGB) against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which makes the headlines of Fox News.


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Bomb

Jonathan Turley: Donald Trump's indictment could backfire on Joe Biden

Jonathan Turley
jonathanturley.org
Mon, 14 Aug 2023 20:38 UTC
hunter and joe biden
© Teresa Kroeger/Getty Images for World Food Program USA
Below is my column in The Messenger on how the second indictment could prove damaging for President Joe Biden. Ironically, both Trump indictments have blowback potential for Biden on the retention of classified material and the dissemination of false claims. Notably, the New York Times has reported that Biden has had his own Thomas Becket moments in telling aides that he wanted Trump indicted and criticizing the Attorney General Merrick Garland for the delay. It is not clear if Smith will "rid [Biden] of this meddlesome president," but his theory of criminality could prove costly to Biden himself. Indeed, it could be used as a basis for an impeachment inquiry.
After last week's indictment of former President Donald Trump relating to the 2020 election, CNN declared that the charges were "personal" for President Joe Biden, who previously said Trump's words sounded like "sedition."

Of course, Trump was not charged with sedition or even seditious conspiracy. Nor was he charged with conspiracy to incitement or insurrection, the grounds for his second impeachment.

However, if Biden does view this case as personal, as CNN suggests, he might be right for the wrong reason. That's because the case being constructed against Trump by Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith could prove a serious problem for Biden, too — particularly as the basis for a House impeachment inquiry.
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Light Sabers

Biden censors battered — expect an epic Supreme Court showdown

James Bovard
NY Post
Sun, 13 Aug 2023 18:45 UTC
Terry Doughty
Federal Judge Terry Doughty condemned the Biden admin for what he called maybe “the most massive attack against free speech in United States history.”
Federal judges hammered fresh nails into the coffin of the Biden censorship regime Thursday in New Orleans. The thrashing the administration received will likely set up an epic Supreme Court battle that could help redefine freedom for our era.

A federal appeals court was hearing the Justice Department's appeal of a July 4 decision in Missouri v. Biden that ignited pro-freedom rhetorical fireworks across the nation.

Federal Judge Terry Doughty's opinion condemned the Biden administration for potentially "the most massive attack against free speech in United States' history."

Doughty delivered 155 pages of damning details of federal browbeating, jawboning and coercion of social-media companies.
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Chess

'Political earthquake': Argentina devalues peso, hikes rates after libertarian outsider's shock win in presidential primary

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Mon, 14 Aug 2023 18:40 UTC
Javier Milei
© ObservadorJavier Milei
The Argentine peso, already at historic lows, puked immediately after far-right political outsider Javier Milei won the country's primary election on Sunday. He wants a dramatic overhaul of the country's entire political and economic system, even vowing to ditch the peso.

Milei is a rock-singing libertarian outsider candidate, an admirer of Donald Trump and self-described anarcho-capitalist, and his primary win headed into the October general election is being widely viewed as punishment for Argentina's two main political establishment blocs - the center-left Peronist coalition and the main Together for Change conservative opposition bloc.

After winning 30% of the vote, beating the main conservative opposition bloc (at 28%) and the ruling Peronist coalition which came in third place, it's being hailed in Argentine media as a "political earthquake".
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Heart - Black

Was the Covid response a coup by Western intelligence agencies?

Eugyppius
The Daily Sceptic
Mon, 07 Aug 2023 11:00 UTC
tamecovid
© Khullar/COVID Therapies/New YorkerHold on tight!
On Thursday, friend-of-the-blog Michael P. Senger posted an important essay to Substack, in which he asks whether the "response to Covid" was "effectively a coup by the Western intelligence community". Everyone should read it, as it summarises in one place a range of evidence that Senger and others have collected pointing to the role of the defence and intelligence actors in promoting lockdowns, especially in America.

Many readers have asked me in sometimes polite and sometimes highly hostile and dismissive ways to comment on these ideas for a long time now. I find this surprising, as I don't disagree with any of Senger's specific observations, and I don't think they're necessarily in conflict with my own theses of What Happened in 2020. I've long held that the bureaucracy succumbed to very radical ideas about how to suppress SARS-2 between February and March 2020, and as the defence and intelligence sectors are part of the institutional apparatus of the Government, it's only logical to think that they should've fallen prey to these ideas too. Perhaps it is true, though, that my overall interpretation of events departs somewhat from the Intelligence Coup Thesis. In what follows, I'll try to explain why.

Comment: Following the bread crumbs has a lot to offer.

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