Puppet Masters

Trump questions why US protects oil shipping lanes for 'zero compensation'

Mark Moore
New York Post
Mon, 24 Jun 2019 18:55 UTC

President Trump questioned why the United States is protecting oil shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz and suggested other countries should be picking up the tab for securing their vessels.

"China gets 91% of its Oil from the Straight, Japan 62%, & many other countries likewise. So why are we protecting the shipping lanes for other countries (many years) for zero compensation," Trump said in two tweets about the matter on Monday, misspelling strait. "All of these countries should be protecting their own ships on what has always been a dangerous journey."

In the other posting, he reiterated his demand that Iran not be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon.

"We don't even need to be there in that the U.S. has just become (by far) the largest producer of Energy anywhere in the world! The U.S. request for Iran is very simple - No Nuclear Weapons and No Further Sponsoring of Terror!" Trump said.

Comment: No worries there (Don't fall for the ruse - The truth about Iran's nuclear program). And it's the U.S. who should stop sponsoring terrorists. The love affair with al-Qaeda has to end, for instance:

Western media eulogize Syrian terrorist as 'singer of the revolution' - never mind his ties to ISIS and al-Qaeda

In the past month, the Trump administration has deployed the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group, B-52 bombers, jet fighters and Patriot anti-missile batteries to Qatar to counter Iran's aggressive behavior in the region.

US deploying missiles along Russia's borders could lead to 'new Cuban missile crisis' - Russia's deputy FM

RT
Mon, 24 Jun 2019 12:36 UTC

Washington will provoke explosive tensions, reminiscent of the darkest moments of the Cold War, if it sends missiles close to Russia's border after suspending the INF Treaty, a senior diplomat in Moscow warned.

If Washington deploys short or mid-range ground-based missiles along Russia's borders, the situation "will not only become complicated, it will escalate to the maximum level," Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told lawmakers on Monday.

"We can end up in a missile crisis not just similar to the one we had in the 1980s, but to the Cuban Missile Crisis [in 1962]."

Comment: See also: Far from quiet on the US vs Russia-China front

China buying gold & dumping dollar assets as trade war with US intensifies

RT
Mon, 24 Jun 2019 09:40 UTC

Gold prices rallied to six-year highs last week and continued posting gains on Monday at $1,403 per ounce. China boosting its gold stockpile, to shift away from the US dollar, has added to the precious metal's resurgence.

The People's Bank of China has purchased more than 70 tons of gold since December, according to the World Gold Council (WGC). Before that, the Chinese central bank had not reported an increase in gold reserves for more than two years, and the official figures remained unchanged from October 2016 to November 2018.

The increased gold purchasing by Asia's top economy comes at a time when global central banks are accumulating the precious metal in record numbers. Russia has been the top buyer of gold, adding about 274 tons to its reserves last year. In the first 5 months of 2019, Russia added 78 tons of gold to its coffers, increasing the metal's share in its international reserves by 3.7 percent.

Comment: See also:

Lavrov says US developing 'secret ideas' for settling Middle East crisis that contradict existing int'l agreements

Sputnik
Mon, 24 Jun 2019 18:29 UTC

© Associated Press/Mahmoud Illean
Palestinian worshipers pray during the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan at the Al Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's old city

The White House published the economic section of its peace plan for the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict dubbed the "deal of the century". The teased plan suggests investing $50 billion over 10 years to boost the Palestinian Authority's economy, but gives no hints about political solutions to the conflict.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has slammed the US for planning to use unilaterally-developed ideas to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, ignoring the existing international agreements.

"We [...] expressed concern about the US attempts to promote secretly-developed ideas that imply a rejection of the principles of a two-state solution to the Palestinian problem, and a departure from the international legal framework in settlement, including UN resolutions, the Madrid Principles and the Arab Peace Initiative", Lavrov said.

Comment:

Israel has made its position clear:

'They tried hard, but failed': Iran foiled all US cyber-attack attempts

RT
Mon, 24 Jun 2019 06:23 UTC

Iran successfully prevented US cyber-attacks that targeted its infrastructure, the country's information minister said after Washington was reported to have crippled Tehran's missile control sites with a retaliatory cyber-strike.

Minister for Information and Communication Technology Mohammad Javad Azari-Jahromi appeared to deny reports in the US media that a massive cyber-offensive had disabled Iranian computer systems that control rocket and missile launches on Thursday

Neither the Pentagon nor the White House commented on the reports, which claimed that the strike had been carried out by US Cyber Command in cooperation with US Central Command to avenge the downing of an unmanned US Navy drone by Iran on Thursday morning.

Comment: Iran's claims have merit - because it's not the only country that's has been and is being targeted: Russian intel chief: Venezuela the latest victim of West's 'virus-like' black ops

See also:

Washington lives in 'perverse state' of self-induced panic - China on Huawei scare

RT
Mon, 24 Jun 2019 18:26 UTC

US officials demonstrate an obscene level of paranoia while trying to ban Huawei and other Chinese telecom companies from the US, Beijing said, blasting American security policies as a "fool's dream."

"In response to the US officials, I want to say that they have been living in self-induced panic, and reached a perverse state, in which they see a threat in every sound," Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Geng Shuang told reporters on Monday.

The diplomat was commenting on the recent report that the White House is considering stepping up its crackdown on Chinese telecommunications technology. On Sunday, the Wall Street Journal wrote, citing sources, that President Donald Trump is mulling the idea of requiring US companies to use only 5G cellular equipment designed and made outside of China. According to the publication, the talks on the matter are in "early and informal stages," with US officials asking the companies whether they can produce the gear elsewhere.

Comment: Better idea: ditch 5G completely. See: Objective:Health #15 - The Dangers of 5G & WiFi - With Scott Ogrin of Scottie's Tech.Info

US officials have been accusing Chinese tech giant Huawei of spying on behalf of Beijing and undermining America's security. In May, Trump gave the government 150 days to devise a plan to limit the use of telecommunication technology made by the firms, tied to "foreign adversaries."

The US has isolated itself on Iran: May have factored into Trump's 'pullback'

Steve Brown
The Duran
Mon, 24 Jun 2019 17:39 UTC

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

It was the duplicity of the former United States that caused it to withdraw from the JCPOA agreement - not any violation of that agreement by Iran. And it is the United States that provoked Iran to the verge of war. It is the United States Treasury too, that presses crippling economic sanctions on Iran - not the other way around.

Indeed, the United States has been on a collision course with Iran since 1979... forty years in the making. Yet despite having forty years to get it right, in typical fashion, the bumbling actions of the current Trump regime prove that America never had any cogent Iran Policy at all.

This time, there is no "coalition of the willing" to posture and pretend that the US has many and varied allies engaged in some just cause to rid the world of evil, as it proclaimed in 1994 versus North Korea, and 2003 versus Iraq. Apparently, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau and Solomon Islands have no real grievance versus Iran right now.

Comment: It's healthy to keep in mind the worst possible interpretation of a politician's actions, Trump may have felt retaliating with Iranian deaths was "disproportionate", but many factors were at play. Even if it was with a coming election in mind, and the fact that he campaigned on not starting new wars, he should be commended for resisting the pressure of the neocon cabal surrounding him. Firing Bolton and Pompeo would be a good next step.

Venezuelan oil production set for another drop - little hope of turnaround

Nick Cunningham
Oilprice.com
Sun, 23 Jun 2019 18:02 UTC

Venezuela's oil production fell to a new low last month, as economic crisis and sanctions continue to strangle the industry.

Venezuela's output fell by 35,000 bpd in May, plunging to 741,000 bpd for the month, according to OPEC's secondary sources, the lowest total in about a half century. The problems for Venezuela are not new and are very big, and as the country settles into a political stalemate that shows no signs of changing, the country's oil production may simply continue to erode.

Proponents of regime change had hoped that with President Nicolas Maduro out of the way, the incoming Juan Guaidó would lead to an overhaul of the country's oil sector. Guaidó even laid out plans earlier this year that consisted of a partial privatization of the energy sector, hoping to attract foreign companies into the country. It would amount to a dramatic change for Venezuela, an erasure of the Chavez era in many ways, where state-owned PDVSA has presided over the oil industry for years.

Venezuela has massive oil reserves, the largest in the world, but conventional fields are in decline and heavy oil fields require huge investment. Infrastructure is crippled, PDVSA is hollowed out both financially and in terms of its human capital. There is little hope of a turnaround.

New documents revisit questions about Rep. Ilhan Omar's marriage history

J. Patrick Coolican and Stephen Montemayor
Star Tribune
Sat, 22 Jun 2019 10:42 UTC

© Aaron Lavinsky/Star Tribune
A state probe of campaign finance violations showed that Rep. Ilhan Omar filed federal taxes in 2014 and 2015 with her current husband, Ahmed Hirsi, while legally married to but separated from Ahmed Nur Said Elmi.

New investigative documents released by a state agency have given fresh life to lingering questions about the marital history of Rep. Ilhan Omar and whether she once married a man - possibly her own brother - to skirt immigration laws.

Omar has denied the allegations in the past, dismissing them as "baseless rumors" first raised in an online Somali politics forum and championed by conservative bloggers during her 2016 campaign for the Minnesota House. But she said little then or since about Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, the former husband who swept into her life in 2009 before a 2011 separation.

The questions surfaced again this month in a state probe of campaign finance violations showing that Omar filed federal taxes in 2014 and 2015 with her current husband, Ahmed Hirsi, while she was still legally married to but separated from Elmi.

Although she has legally corrected the discrepancy, she has declined to say anything about how or why it happened.

Russia opts to extend counter-sanctions against US, EU & allies through 2020 in response to EU

RT
Mon, 24 Jun 2019 16:54 UTC

President Vladimir Putin has signed a law prolonging the embargo against Western countries that have imposed anti-Russia sanctions. Restrictions will be in force until the end of next year.

The document which was published on Russia's official portal of legal information, reads: "To extend from January 1 to December 31, 2020 the operation of certain special economic measures stipulated by the presidential decree of August 6, 2014.

Five years ago, the Kremlin banned imports of certain agricultural products, raw materials and foodstuffs from Western countries that target Russia with sanctions. They include the United States, the European Union, Canada, Australia, Norway, Iceland, Albania, Montenegro, Liechtenstein, and Ukraine.

Comment: For a nation as resilient as Russia, the short-sighted imposition of sanctions by the US and its vassals became a spur to become even more self-reliant than they already were. The US has missed out on a developing market that used to be hungry for western goods, but no more. "Made in Russia" is now a source of national pride.

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Puppet Masters

Trump questions why US protects oil shipping lanes for 'zero compensation'

US deploying missiles along Russia's borders could lead to 'new Cuban missile crisis' - Russia's deputy FM

China buying gold & dumping dollar assets as trade war with US intensifies

Lavrov says US developing 'secret ideas' for settling Middle East crisis that contradict existing int'l agreements

'They tried hard, but failed': Iran foiled all US cyber-attack attempts

Washington lives in 'perverse state' of self-induced panic - China on Huawei scare

The US has isolated itself on Iran: May have factored into Trump's 'pullback'

Venezuelan oil production set for another drop - little hope of turnaround

New documents revisit questions about Rep. Ilhan Omar's marriage history

Russia opts to extend counter-sanctions against US, EU & allies through 2020 in response to EU

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