Puppet MastersS


Attention

BRIC-o-rama: on the road in Brazil, with an eye on Russia-China

Brazil's Lula
© Strategic Culture Foundation
I have just been immersed in an extraordinary experience: a mini-tour of conferences in Brazil encompassing four key cities - Sao Paulo, Rio, Salvador, Belo Horizonte. Full houses, sharp questions, fabulously warm people, divine gastronomy - a deep dive into the 8th largest economy in the world and major BRICS+ node.

As much as I was trying to impress the finer points of the long and winding road to multipolarity and the multiple instances of frontal clash between NATOstan and the Global Majority, I was learning non-stop from an array of generous Brazilians about the current inner contradictions of a society of astonishing complexity.
Lagoon Somewhere
© Strategic Culture Foundation
It's as if I was immersed in a psychedelic journey conducted by Os Mutantes, the iconic trio of the late 1960s Tropicalia movement: from the business front in Sao Paulo - with its world-class restaurants and frantic deal-making - to the blinding beauty of Rio; from Salvador - the capital of Brazilian Africa - to Belo Horizonte, the capital of the third-wealthiest state in the Federation, Minas Gerais, a powerhouse of iron ore, uranium and niobium exports.

Георгиевская ленточка

European country tells people not to wear symbol of WWII victory over Nazis

Saint George Ribbon
© Sputnik / Vitaly Ankov
Moldova's police chief has branded the St. George's ribbon, a hallmark of Victory Day celebrations in Russia, a "symbol of aggression"

Moldovan authorities have explicitly warned citizens against wearing St. George's ribbon during the upcoming WWII Victory Day celebrations. The orange and black strip of material, a popular commemoration symbol in Russia and most other former Soviet republics, has been deemed a "symbol of aggression" by Moldova's police chief.

Referring to the St. George's ribbon, Viorel Cernauteanu, the head of the General Police Inspectorate, told a news briefing on Monday that "Selling, storing, producing and wearing a two-color ribbon, which is a symbol of aggression is currently banned," adding "We all must abide by the rules."

Comment:

Transnistria appeals to Russia for 'protection', reviving fears for Moldova breakaway region
Moldova & 'foreign specialists' training militants for terrorist attacks in Transnistria - State Security Ministry
Moldova: EU-aspirant's president to punish opposition-controlled cities

Moldova borders Romania and according to the Wiki a vote in parliament in 2023 changed the official language from Moldovan to Romanian.

Given the ambitions of the current government in Moldova to become a part of the EU, and the close proximity to Romania, the measure about prohibiting St George ribbons could be a step in the "European integration". Besides, if Moldova joins Romania it "would not look good" if some newly minted Romanians would have yearly yearning wearing Saint George ribbons, considering the history of Romania in World War II:
On 22 June 1941, German armies with a massive Romanian support attacked the Soviet Union. German and Romanian units conquered Bessarabia, Odessa, and Sevastopol, then marched eastward across the Russian steppes toward Stalingrad. Romania welcomed the war because it allowed them to retake lands annexed by the Soviet Union a year prior. Hitler rewarded Romania's loyalty by returning Bessarabia and northern Bukovina and by allowing Romania to administer Soviet lands immediately between the Dniester and the Bug, including Odessa and Nikolaev.[11] Romanian jingoes in Odessa even distributed a geography showing that the Dacians had inhabited most of southern Russia.[1][12] After recovering Bessarabia and Bukovina (Operation München), Romanian units fought side by side with the Germans onward to Odessa, Sevastopol, Stalingrad and the Caucasus. The total number of troops involved on the Eastern Front with the Romanian Third Army and the Romanian Fourth Army was second only to that of Nazi Germany itself. The Romanian Army had a total of 686,258 men under arms in the summer of 1941 and a total of 1,224,691 men in the summer of 1944.[13]The number of Romanian troops sent to fight in the Soviet Union exceeded that of all of Germany's other allies combined.
It is more than just history; traditions are upheld:
NATO begins building its largest European base, near Black Sea in Romania (18 March 2024)
Never mind:
Protests erupt in Romania's capital against NATO troops in the country, financing of Kiev or
Best of the Web: 'Today western values mean three things: Migration, LGBTQ and war' - Orbán's speech in Romania, and the collapse of the West


Eye 1

Now we are supposed to cheer government surveillance?

chained newspaper
They are wearing us down with shocking headlines and opinions. They come daily these days, with increasingly implausible claims that leave your jaw on the floor. The rest of the text is perfunctory. The headline is the takeaway, and the part designed to demoralize, deconstruct, and disorient.

A few weeks ago, the New York Times told us that "As It Turns Out, the Deep State Is Pretty Awesome." These are the same people who claim that Trump is trying to get rid of democracy. The Deep State is the opposite of democracy, unelected and unaccountable in every way, impervious to elections and the will of the people. Now we have the NYT celebrating this.

And the latest bears notice too: "Government Surveillance Keeps Us Safe." The authors are classic Deep Staters associated with Hillary Clinton and George W. Bush. They assure us that having an Orwellian state is good for us. You can trust them, promise. The rest of the content of the article doesn't matter much. The message is in the headline.

Clipboard

Washington moves on to Plan B against Russia

titanic
Here's what everyone needs to understand about Ukraine:

The United States has already moved on to Plan B. No, the Biden administration has not issued an official statement on the matter, but the shift has already begun. The Washington Brain-trust has abandoned any hope of winning the war outright (Plan A) and has, thus, adopted a different strategy altogether. (Plan B)

Plan B is a combination of two main elements:
  • A — A Strategy of Denial, which is 'a defensive approach designed to stop an adversary' from achieving its goals. In this case, the objective is to prolong the conflict for as long as possible to prevent Russian from achieving a clear victory. That is the top priority.
  • B — To continue to increase and intensify asymmetrical attacks on vital infrastructure and civilian areas in Russia proper in order to inflict as much damage on Russia as possible.

Dollar

It's The End Of The Foreign Exchange Reserves As We Know It...

History eraser button

"Birthday party, cheesecake, jelly bean, Boom!" — R.E.M.
The world we've known is over. The US Congress finally pushed the big red button. When the West froze around $300 billion of Russia's foreign exchange reserves in March 2022 it was the first step in breaking down the system of foreign exchange reserves that makes up the global economy.

Freezing assets of countries they are mad at isn't new behavior from the locusts that run the G-7 countries. We still have to listen to conservatards whine about Obama giving Iran back "pallets of cash" for signing the JCPOA (Iran Nuclear Deal) in 2015, when all he did was unfreeze assets we'd frozen in 1979...

... 1979, folks. Seriously. Get a grip on reality. Obama gave Iran back their money. I'm no Obama fan, far from it, but as payments go, it was really nothing.

Freezing assets, however, isn't really theft, it's just the tip.

The money frozen in 2022 was supposed to operate the same way. It was supposed to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin into ending the war in Ukraine. The theory being that the oligarchs whose money that represented would push Putin out of power to get that money back.

Theories, by the way, speaking as a scientist, mostly suck.

Putin used this to his advantage, rallying the world around him and to the burgeoning BRICS Alliance. It worked a treat and here we are with $90 per barrel oil, raging inflation and a shattered Ukraine.

Typically, the British call this, "money well spent."

Attention

Agency had 'pallets' of documents sent to Mar-A-Lago one year before raid

presidential helicopter Mar-a-Lago
© Trump White House Archives / Flickr / Public DomainThe presidential helicopter lands on the grounds of Mar-a-Lago
A federal agency worked with the Trump transition team to send two pallets of "document boxes" relating to former President Donald Trump's presidency to his Mar-a-Lago home — one year before Special Counsel Jack Smith then raided the residence to look for classified documents.

Smith indicted Trump in June of 2023 for allegedly mishandling classified documents, one year after armed federal agents raided Mar-a-Lago in search of such documents.

The General Services Administration (GSA) was in talks with Trump's team both during and after his term regarding "pallets" of items from the president's tenure, emails show. The GSA informed Trump's transition team that there were six pallets that needed to be transferred from Virginia to Florida.

Comment: The Gateway Pundit adds:
President Trump shared last week that he believes the FBI stole his will. The FBI also stole 1,800 other items that were not documents that belonged to President Trump. This was not lawful or necessary.

It is also widely known at this point that Joe Biden who ordered the FBI access to Trump's documents at Mar-a-Lago and President Trump's personal belongings.

On pages 2-3 of the ruling Judge Cannon revealed that it was JOE BIDEN who ordered the FBI access to the Mar-a-Lago documents and President Trump's personal belongings.

This was despite the Biden regime insisting they had nothing to do with the raid.

In September 2022, Joe Hoft at The Gateway Pundit reported that Chris Wray's FBI created a fake crime scene at Trump's home by adding their own documents to the scene and doctoring at least one photo. (more here).

The FBI created the crime scene, inserted their own documents, and then photoshopped the document. At the bottom of the photo provided to the court there is the number 2A, indicating that this was a crime scene photo as well as a type of tape measure across the bottom of the photo. The corrupt FBI threw the photos on the floor themselves. They staged this.

We know this because the containers were right next door. The documents would have been placed on a table had the FBI wanted to take a picture of the documents. Showing them as scattered across the floor is for show to indicate they were found this way, a lie we explain below. Also, the cabinets are right next to the documents, which is likely where they were stored. They weren't stored on the floor.

As The Gateway Pundit previously reported, Biden's corrupt FBI's raid on Mar-a-Lago was all a set-up. We reported this when it happened. Now we have more evidence.

It was all another set up from our totally corrupt DOJ and FBI.

In November 2022, we reported at TGP that the FBI set up President Trump and inserted documents at the Mar-a-Lago raid.

fbi documents trump mar a lago raid
© The Gateway Pundit
1. We know that the FBI wanted to make this look like a crime scene.

We know this because at the bottom of the photo provided to the court there is the number 2A, indicating that this was a crime scene photo as well as a type of tape measure across the bottom of the photo. The corrupt FBI threw the photos on the floor themselves. They staged this.

We know this because the containers were right next door. The documents would have been placed on a table had the FBI wanted to take a picture of the documents. Showing them as scattered across the floor is for show to indicate they were found this way, a lie we explain below. Also, the cabinets are right next to the documents, which is likely where they were stored. They weren't stored on the floor.

2. The FBI inserted documents into the photo.

The cover sheets in the above photo that were red, yellow, and brown were inserted by the FBI. They are the FBI's cover sheets. We know this for various reasons. The Trump White House did not need these cover sheets in the documents they held because they had their own cover sheets.

If you look closely at the photo above, the document right above the 2A is folded back. The papers are stapled together as they should be. If you look at that batch you see there already was a cover sheet on that document. It says "Please store in...". That is the real cover sheet.

The red, yellow, and brown cover sheets were inserted. If you look closely at the yellow cover sheets, they are paper clipped to the documents. The documents would have been stapled. They are paperclipped because they were inserted by the FBI.

Also, the front cover sheet in brown, showing SCI, says the following wording:
"Handling, storage, reproduction, and distribution of the attached document must be in accordance with the applicable executive orders statutes and agency implementing regulations."
This document was inserted. The FBI inserted this to indicate that the "agency implementing regulations" - i.e. the DOJ - is involved in the maintenance of these records but this is not the case.
analysis photo trump documents fbi raid mara a lago
© The Gateway Pundit
The President has the right to documents that are his. They are his property and an inserted document saying something different is simply not true.

3. The photo was altered or photoshopped after it was taken (i.e. the FBI was tampering with evidence).

Throughout the picture there are sections in white. It would be proper for the FBI to take pictures of the crime scene and then add paper to cover up the classified info and then take photos to cover up any classified information. However, we know that these white sections are redactions to the photo.

At the end of the article we reported that this was a crime scene but the FBI and DOJ were the criminals.
This past weekend Judge Cannon unredacted documents previously concealed to the American public.

The unredacted documents prove the raid on Mar-a-Lago was all a set up as we previously reported.

Julie Kelly reported on X that an entire pallet full of boxes that was held by GSA was later dumped at Mar-a-Lago. These boxes contained the papers with "classified markings."

It was all a set-up.


Based on the current evidence released:


It appears the entire Mar-a-Lago raid was a set-up by the Biden DOJ and Chris Wray FBI to get Trump. Apparently, the real criminals are not on trial.



Light Sabers

The US and the UK are pushing for total war on all fronts

Schumer
© Kevin Dietach/Getty Images/AFPSenate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) speaks after Senate passes foreign aid bill with $95B for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan
The Iran-Israel clash has served as a catalyst for renewed escalation by Western leaders, and World War III cannot be ruled out.

The events of recent weeks have produced a sudden jolt in Western politics. From a lethargy that was starting to creep into US and western discourse over the Ukraine war, Iran's attack on Israel suddenly seemed to have had the effect of awakening Ronald Reagan from his grave and leading to a surge of neo-conservativism on steroids, on both sides of the Atlantic.

US House Speaker Mike Johnson did a complete 180-degree U-turn and proclaimed himself a "Reagan Republican" passing a series of aid bills for astronomical overseas spending that he had otherwise blocked for months, as he denounced an "axis of evil." Along with that, a proposed TikTok ban bill came out of nowhere too and was quickly signed into law.

Then the UK decided to devote its largest ever aid package to Ukraine, with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak warning of an "axis of authoritarian states" and amplifying ideologically combative rhetoric. At the same time, it was then revealed Biden had sent 300km long range ATACMS missiles to Ukraine despite having pledged not to do so for years, fearing escalation. Finally, EU President Ursula von der Leyen has suddenly dramatically increased economic warfare on China, pushing the European Commission to open probes on scores of Chinese exports. Where exactly did all this come from?

Comment: Western leadership has purposed a one-way ticket to hell. No side trip. No refund. No return.


Target

Putin did NOT order Alexei Navalny's death, US intelligence believes - sparking fury from the murdered Russian opposition leader's aides

Navalny
© Getty ImagesAlexei Navalny
U.S. intelligence agencies have determined that Russian President Vladimir Putin probably didn't order opposition politician Alexei Navalny killed at an Arctic prison camp in February, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.

Navalny, 47 when he died, was Putin's fiercest domestic critic. His allies, branded extremists by the authorities, accused Putin of having him murdered and have said they will provide proof to back their allegation.

The Kremlin has denied any state involvement. Last month, Putin called Navalny's demise 'sad' and said he had been ready to hand the jailed politician over to the West in a prisoner exchange provided Navalny never return to Russia. Navalny's allies said such talks had been under way.

The Journal, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter, said on Saturday that U.S. intelligence agencies had concluded that Putin probably didn't order Navalny to be killed in February.

Comment: See also:


Light Sabers

Musk and Sacks slam Washington's 'forever war' Ukraine plan

muskSacks
© Business Insider/Getty ImagesElon Musk • David Sacks
The tech billionaires weighed in on the idea of a ten-year aid deal articulated by Vladimir Zelensky.

Two of the America's most influential tech entrepreneurs, Elon Musk and David Sacks, have expressed concern over a security agreement currently in the works between the US and Ukraine.

Former PayPal chief David Sacks took to X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday to warn that the controversial $61 billion in aid to Kiev approved by Washington earlier this month "was just the beginning." He was commenting on a statement made by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, who said that his team and the administration of US President Joe Biden were "working on fixing specific levels of support...for the next ten years, including armed support, financial, political, and joint arms production."

"The next two US presidents won't be able to switch it off," Sacks, who's also the founder of the corporate social network Yammer, wrote on X. In separate posts the entrepreneur went on to mention recent reports that NATO allies were working to "Trump-proof" weapons for Ukraine and claimed that the goal of the current US administration was "to turn Ukraine into a Forever War."

"This is insane. The forever war," Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wrote in response to Sacks' posts.

Light switch

Pep talk on a dark day

lanternman
© Charon
"We live in an age of full spectrum deception."
Edward Dowd
You realize, don't you, that what's going on in our country is the collapse not just of an empire, or an economy, but a comprehensive paradigm of human progress. The hallmark of post-war life in Western Civ was supposed to be a return to sanity after the mid-twentieth century fugue of mass psychotic violence. The wish for just and rational order was not entirely pretense. But that was then. Now that we are going medieval on ourselves, the not-so-ironic result will be our literally going medieval, sinking back into a pre-modern existence of darkness, superstition, and penury, grubbing for a mere subsistence in the shadow of scuffling hobgoblins, our achievements lost and forgotten.

What's most appalling is that our governing apparatus is visibly willing that to happen. When Barack Obama warned America to not underestimate Joe Biden's ability to fuck things up, was that some kind of joke? After all, it was Mr. Obama and his fellow blobsters — the cabal of Intel spooks, covert Marxist bureaucrats, lawfare ninjas, globalist megalomaniacs, post-liberal think tankers, weapons grifters, degenerate billionaires, and assorted mentally-ill camp followers — who inflicted Joe Biden on the body politic. And then ran him on the country like some demon algorithm designed to wreck the USA as fast as possible.

Comment: The Kunstler assortment: Questions abound. Answers not so much.