Puppet Masters

Bellingcaught: Who is the mysterious author of Bellingcat's attacks on OPCW whistleblower?

Aaron Maté
The Grayzone
Wed, 24 Mar 2021 19:54 UTC

After publishing fraudulent claims in a bid to smear OPCW whistleblowers, Bellingcat has been caught in another subterfuge that contradicts its stated allegiance to "transparency and accountability": a hidden, external author writing its material.

The website Bellingcat promotes itself as a collective of digital sleuths who "pledge allegiance to truth and evidence and abide by the principles of transparency and accountability." Its self-described "groundbreaking investigations," especially those aimed at Russia and Syria, have led to fawning Western media endorsements of its claim to be an "intelligence agency for the people."

But Bellingcat's carefully crafted public image as an "open source" outlet is belied by its extensive NATO government ties and a conspicuous pattern of conduct in line with its state sponsors' interests. Bellingcat has hauled in grants from the National Endowment for Democracy, a US government-funded CIA cutout. Leaked documents reported by The Grayzone revealed that Bellingcat has collaborated with a UK Foreign Office operation that aims to "weaken Russia."

Comment: Further reading:

Lula judge was 'biased', Brazil's supreme court rules, paving way to challenge Bolsonaro in 2022

The Guardian
Wed, 24 Mar 2021 00:06 UTC

Brazil's supreme court has ruled that the former judge Sergio Moro was biased in the way he oversaw former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's corruption trial, providing vindication for the leftist leader who has long claimed political persecution.

The decision further darkens the shadow over the reputation of Moro and the sweeping "Car Wash" corruption investigation he presided over for years.

He sentenced hundreds of business and political leaders previously believed to enjoy impunity, and transformed himself into one of the Brazil's best-known public figures. Some hailed him a hero while others accused him of being a zealot.

Comment: See also:

UK faces 'covid decade' due to damage done by pandemic

Patrick Butler
The Guardian
Mon, 22 Mar 2021 20:01 UTC

Britain faces a "Covid decade" of social and cultural upheaval marked by growing inequality and deepening economic deprivation, a landmark review has concluded.

Major changes to the way society is run in the wake of the pandemic are needed to mitigate the impact of the "long shadow" cast by the virus, including declining public trust and an explosion in mental illness, the British Academy report found.

Published on the anniversary of the UK's first lockdown, the report brings together more than 200 academic social science and humanities experts and hundreds of research projects. It was set up last year at the behest of the government's chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance.

The British Academy warned that failure to understand the scale of the challenge ahead and deliver changes would result in a rapid slide towards poorer societal health, more extreme patterns of inequality and fragmenting national unity.

Comment: In other words, the pandemic reset worked just fine with 'changes' unfolding according to plan.

Expectations were created: Mexico's president blames Biden for border crisis

Ian Haworth
Daily Wire
Tue, 23 Mar 2021 00:00 UTC

On Tuesday, left-wing Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador blamed Joe Biden and his administration for the immigration crisis which continues to unfurl at the border between the United States and Mexico. Obrador said during a press conference:

"Expectations were created that with the Government of President Biden there would be a better treatment of migrants. And this has caused Central American migrants, and also from our country, wanting to cross the border thinking that it is easier to do so."

Trump: McConnell 'Hanging by a thread' as 'catastrophic' filibuster debate looms

Cody Derespina
Newsmax
Mon, 22 Mar 2021 12:35 UTC

Former President Donald Trump excoriated Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., as weak, ineffective, and ultimately reliant on Democrats to prevent the destruction of the filibuster, which would be "catastrophic for the Republican party."

"He's hanging by a thread," Trump said on Monday's iHeartRadio The Truth with Lisa Boothe" podcast.

"... I don't really want to talk to him. He's hanging by a thread right now with respect to the filibuster. He's hanging on [West Virginia Democratic Senator] Joe Manchin, who always goes with the Democrats. Joe talks, but he ends up going with the Democrats ... But he's hanging by a thread and if they get the filibuster, if they knock it out, it will be catastrophic for the Republican party."

Democrat momentum to abolish the Senate filibuster, which requires 60 votes to end debate and move to a final vote for most items, has picked up in recent months, with proponents charging the increasingly gridlocked Senate will be largely useless unless reforms occur. Those who support keeping the filibuster — mainly Republicans, at this point — say it's essential to preserve the voice of the minority.

Trump said Democrats would be free to pursue any radical policy they desire if the filibuster falls.

No clear winner in Israeli election, but Netanyahu has upper hand in building a coalition

RT
Tue, 23 Mar 2021 22:18 UTC

Exit polls show no clear winner in Israel's latest general election. However, incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has a clear path to building a coalition, if his potential allies give him that gift.

Israelis went to the polls on Tuesday, to vote in the fourth general election in two years. Rocked by corruption charges in 2018, Netanyahu has managed to hold onto power thus far, winning a narrow victory in spring 2019 but failing to form a government.

After multiple elections, abortive back-and forth attempts between Netanyahiu and rival Benny Gantz to form coalitions, and Netanyahu's shutdown of the country's institutions last year - ostensibly due to the threat of Covid-19 - the Jewish state has finally had another shot at choosing a government.

Channel 13's exit poll showed Netanyahu's Likud party on track to win 33 seats in the 120-seat Knesset. Though far short of the 61 seats necessary for a majority, Netanyahu could cobble together a coalition of other right-wing parties to remain in power, but only if he secures the support of Naftali Bennett of the Yamina party.

Israel asks Abbas to call off Palestine elections

MEMO
Sat, 20 Mar 2021 11:28 UTC

Head of Israel's Shin Bet Security Agency Nadav Argaman has secretly met with Palestinian Authority (PA), Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and Fatah President Mahmoud Abbas and asked him to call off Palestinian elections, Israeli media reported on Friday.

According to a report broadcast by Israeli Channel 13, Argaman met with Abbas in Ramallah over the last two weeks. He urged Abbas to cancel the elections if the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas takes part, according to the Times of Israel.

Meanwhile, Anadolu Agency reported the Israeli TV channel claiming that Argaman warned Abbas about pushing forward an investigation into Israeli crimes at the International Criminal Court, Fatah's plan to run on a joint list with Hamas for the parliamentary elections and forming a coalition government with Hamas.

Who is shaking the jar?

The Burning Platform
Mon, 22 Mar 2021 00:00 UTC

"If you catch 100 red fire ants as well as 100 large black ants, and put them in a jar, at first, nothing will happen. However, if you violently shake the jar and dump them back on the ground the ants will fight until they eventually kill each other. The thing is, the red ants think the black ants are the enemy and vice versa, when in reality, the real enemy is the person who shook the jar. This is exactly what's happening in society today. Liberal vs. Conservative. Black vs. White. Pro Mask vs. Anti-Mask. Vax vs. Anti-vax. Rich vs. poor. Man vs. woman. Cop vs. citizen. The real question we need to be asking ourselves is who's shaking the jar... and why?" - Shera Starr

A few weeks ago, I saw the above quote in Jeff Thomas' article Learning from Ants, and it has been reverberating in my mind ever since. It is a perfect analogy for what has been happening in this country for years, with the jar lately being shaken at a rate faster than a Biden vote count increase at 3:00 am in a swing state. Everyone in this country, and the world, is at each other's throats. Who is shaking the jar? Why are they shaking the jar? Why do they want us fighting each other?

Russia & China join forces to demand crunch-time UN Security Council talks over 'political turbulence': Moscow slams 'destructive' US

RT
Wed, 24 Mar 2021 17:36 UTC

© Reuters / Russian Foreign Ministry
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and China's State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi attend news conference following their meeting in Guilin, China March 23, 2021.

UN officials must meet to head off growing threats to world peace, diplomats from Beijing and Moscow have insisted, in a joint statement published on Tuesday, with Russia saying both states are concerned about American behavior.

At a meeting in the Chinese city of Guilin, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his counterpart Wang Yi said that "at a time of increasing global political turbulence, a summit of the permanent members of the UN Security Council is particularly necessary to establish direct dialogue about ways to resolve humankind's common problems in the interests of maintaining global stability."

Comment: Indeed. Economic sanctions have been the US's blunt instrument against all it perceives as acting against imperial interests. Russia and China are leading the way in creating a global structure that will bypass and nullify them. It will be a relief no doubt, to leave behind the decrepit, decaying West.

Germany plans to impose strict lockdown over Easter - but Merkel backtracks after criticism

DW
Tue, 23 Mar 2021 09:39 UTC

Germany imposes strict lockdown over Easter

"We are in a new pandemic" due to the spread of coronavirus variants, Chancellor Angela Merkel has said. German federal and state leaders have agreed on a radical shutdown over the Easter holidays.

Germany is extending the current lockdown through to April 18, Chancellor Angela Merkel announced early Tuesday.

The country will enter an even stricter lockdown from April 1 to April 5 over the Easter holiday period, when shops, including grocery stores, will largely have to close.

Merkel warned that Germany needed to "break the exponential growth of the third wave." Case numbers have reached levels that authorities say will overburden intensive care units.

Tuesday's announcement marks a reversal from earlier this month when state leaders agreed to begin a cautious reopening process.

Talks between leaders of Germany's 16 federal states and Merkel lasted until the early hours of the morning following a lengthy interruption.

Comment: The Corona madness continues across Europe.

France president Macron announced new restrictions and continued to spread hysteria over the virus and vaccines, despite the fact that 61% of the people think that the AstraZeneca Vaccine is unsafe.

Denmark is thinking about easing the restrictions but with compulsory "covid passports" and vaccination of the population over the age of 50. The "passport" will be required to visit the gradually opened services.

The Netherlands' controversial Covid-19 curbs will be extended until April 20, and the travel-abroad restriction is also extended until May 15. Netherlands government drew further anger last month after an appeals court reinstated the country's curfews, reversing an earlier ruling that found the measures were "illegitimate."

Despite the harsher tyrannical measures that governments impose on their population, people are protesting more and more in almost every country in Europe. Clashes with police became a daily routine.

The installation of the police state is probably going as planned for the PTB. Will they with all their aggressive behavior against the people reach the tipping point when people will stand united against the tyranny that kidnapped their lives and took their freedom and rights and put an end to this madness?

UPDATE: Merkel has reversed course after the lockdown decision prompted "criticism and confusion" among Germany's public. She told regional leaders it was her mistake to answer for. Not everyone in parliament was as forgiving as others:

Christian Lindner, party leader of the business-friendly Free Democrats (FDP), tweeted that Merkel should put a vote of confidence to the Bundestag.

"The Chancellor can no longer be sure of the unanimous support of her coalition," Lindner wrote.

"A vote of confidence in the German Bundestag would be advisable in order to check the ability of the Merkel government to act."

The Duke gave the credit for the Royal family's decades-long interest in the environment to his late grandfather, the Duke of Edinburgh, who he...

LadyRad

Harry Truman met Luce shortly after leaving office and told him to his face; "Mr. Luce, a man like you must have trouble sleeping at nights...

bobpinto

Trick Or Treat II: [Link]

parzival

The Impact of CO2, H2O and Other “Greenhouse Gases” on Equilibrium Earth Temperatures” by Coe, Fabinski and Weigleb, in the International Journal...

parzival

BTW, You'd almost think that China doesn't agree that a partially retarded high school girl should set the global climate policy for the entire...

parzival

Puppet Masters

Bellingcaught: Who is the mysterious author of Bellingcat's attacks on OPCW whistleblower?

Lula judge was 'biased', Brazil's supreme court rules, paving way to challenge Bolsonaro in 2022

UK faces 'covid decade' due to damage done by pandemic

Expectations were created: Mexico's president blames Biden for border crisis

Trump: McConnell 'Hanging by a thread' as 'catastrophic' filibuster debate looms

No clear winner in Israeli election, but Netanyahu has upper hand in building a coalition

Israel asks Abbas to call off Palestine elections

Who is shaking the jar?

Russia & China join forces to demand crunch-time UN Security Council talks over 'political turbulence': Moscow slams 'destructive' US

Germany plans to impose strict lockdown over Easter - but Merkel backtracks after criticism

Latest News

Picture of the Day

Quote of the Day

Recent Comments

Quantum Quirk

Contact Us