Puppet MastersS


Bad Guys

Congress to Obama: Cancel Iran deal

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© APIran's Bushehr nuclear power plant
Congressional opposition to the recently announced nuclear accord with Iran reached a critical tipping point this week as lawmakers from both sides of the aisle publicly lambasted the deal while pushing for tighter economic sanctions on Tehran.

As the details of an interim nuclear deal reached last month in Geneva become clear, Congressional opposition has grown, leaving the White House to sell a deal that even its allies have dubbed as worrisome.

The White House held a classified briefing with members of Congress on Wednesday to push them against passing new sanctions in 2014, giving Iran at least another year of economic reprieve, according to Rep. Brad Sherman (D., Calif.).

"They want to convince us not to take any action in the first five or six months of 2014," Sherman said on the House floor during a Special Order on Iran organized Wednesday evening by Rep. Peter Roskam (R., Ill.). "That means, in effect, we are not going to take action in 2014."

Star of David

Iran refuses to recognize Israel at U.N.

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© APIranians burning Israeli and American flags in 2012
Iran publicly refused to recognize "the Israeli regime" during a full meeting on Thursday of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

The move appeared to stun not a single onlooker at the United Nations, but prompted a sharp response from Israel's ambassador to the U.N.

During the opening moments of the 68th UNGA's 60th plenary meeting, Iran's representative took the floor to reiterate her country's distaste for the Jewish state.

The UNGA meeting was held to mark a procedural - and typically uneventful - vote in which nations meet to approve the credentials of various U.N. member states.

While Iran, like every other nation, voted in favor of the measure, its representative sought to explain that its support should not be interpreted as recognition of Israel.

"We would like to reiterate my government's position that our support for this document should be in no way be considered as the recognition of the Israeli regime," Iran's representative said. "I wish my statement in this regard to be recorded and registered in the final recording of this meeting."

Iran was the only member state to offer an on-the-record statement regarding the vote.

Magnify

Timeline: 10 years of crisis in Ukraine

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© Getty ImagesProtesters in Kiev's Independence Square, Dec 2013
November 22 2004 In Ukraine's second round election, the Central Electoral Commission declares pro-Russian incumbent Viktor Yanukovich the winner. Viktor Yushchenko, the leader of the opposition decries widespread voter fraud and electoral irregularities.

November 23 2004 An estimated 500,000 protestors assemble in Kiev's Independence Square. The Orange Revolution is born. Ukraine's Supreme Court suspends publication of the election results pending an investigation.

December 8 2004 Following the Supreme Court's annulment of the elections, a December re-run of the disputed presidential election is announced. Protesters scale down their demonstration and government employees return to work.

December 11 Doctors in Vienna announce that tests have confirmed that Yushchenko was poisoned with a dioxin.

December 27 2004 Polls close on the third round of voting, with results showing a handsome margin of victory for Yushchenko. Yanukovich resigns as Prime Minister following his failed court action against the latest results. He says he cannot work with Yushchenko loyalists.

Attention

Jim Rogers cautions "Be prepared, be worried, and be careful... this is going to end badly"

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"Eventually, the whole world is going to collapse," Jim Rogers chides a disquieted CBC anchor as he explains the reality that, "we in the West have staggering debts. The United States is the largest debtor nation in the history of the world," adding that "this is going to end badly."

However, the co-founder of Soros' Quantum fund is convinced that the commodity super-cycle is far from over, but driven by supply constraints (and cost increases) as opposed to demand from higher growth. The following interview provides more color on his commodity view as he re-iterates his bullish stance on Ag (with sugar a focus) and Natural Gas (some harsh natural realities coming), warning "don't get too excited about fracking," when he talks energy products.

Rogers, in his inimitable way, sums up the state of euphoria that many markets find themselves in thus, "we are all floating around on a sea of artificial liquidity right now. This is not going to last."

Propaganda

'Nothing is beyond our reach,' National Reconnaissance Office's new logo claims

NRO logo
© NROThe logo for the latest secret mission by the National Reconnaissance Office has raised a few eyebrows.
The U.S. National Reconnaissance Office launched a new spy satellite Thursday evening on mission NROL-39 -- and the new logo and tagline are quite an eye opener.

The new logo features a giant, world-dominating octopus, its sucker-covered tentacles encircling the planet while it looks on with determination, a steely glint in its enormous eye. The logo carries a five-word tagline: "Nothing is beyond our reach."

Christopher Soghoian, principal technologist and senior policy analyst with the ACLU, raised a quizzical eyebrow at the new slogan.

"Advice to @ODNIgov: You may want to downplay the massive dragnet spying thing right now. This logo isn't helping," he wrote.

An agency spokeswoman told Forbes that there's a very good reason for the symbol: The octopus is intelligent, and therefore a good emblem for an intelligence agency.

"NROL-39 is represented by the octopus, a versatile, adaptable, and highly intelligent creature. Emblematically, enemies of the United States can be reached no matter where they choose to hide," said Karen Furgerson, a spokeswoman for the NRO. "'Nothing is beyond our reach' defines this mission and the value it brings to our nation and the warfighters it supports, who serve valiantly all over the globe, protecting our nation."


Comment: Not likely. The The Dictionary of Symbols defines an Octopus like so: "This shapeless, tentacled creature stands significantly for the monsters who regularly symbolize the spirits of the Underground and even Hell itself."


Star of David

Israel gets Irish radio presenter suspended from broadcasting after he says on air what everybody already knows, that Gaza is an open-air prison

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Peter Kearney, presenter of the International Politics show on Dublin's Near FM, had ridiculed Ireland's Broadcasting Authority after a complaint from the Israeli embassy was upheld.

The Sunday Times reports that Kearney has been suspended and told by station management that his actions 'were not acceptable.' Kearney had interviewed a number of people last March about their experiences in Gaza in the aftermath of Israeli military action in 2008 and 2009.

The paper reports that during his program, he described Gaza as an 'open-air prison,' endorsing a term used by one interviewee. The presenter also said on air that Israel did not want to share the waters off the coast of Gaza with Palestinians because of their potential gas and oil reserves.

Comment: Israel is currently in violation of international law due to its illegal military occupation and blockade of the Gaza Strip. There exists an urgent humanitarian crisis in Gaza, with raw sewage flowing in the streets, power outages, an economy choked by the occupation, closure of border crossings, and the destruction of the smuggling tunnels used to supply basic necessities for Palestinians.

So, Peter Kearney did tell the truth in this situation, but in the world in which we live, truth is not on the playlist.


Snakes in Suits

Guardian editor interrogated by UK Parliamentary Committee over Snowden leaks, the same Committee that gave UK Intelligence chiefs a free pass just weeks earlier

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Alan Rusbridger being interrogated by a UK Parliamentary committee
The top editor of the British newspaper The Guardian told Parliament on Tuesday that since it obtained documents on government surveillance from a former National Security Agency contractor, Edward J. Snowden, it has met with government agencies in Britain and the United States more than 100 times and has been subjected to measures "designed to intimidate."

The testimony by the editor, Alan Rusbridger, gave a public airing to the debate over how to balance press freedom against national security concerns, an issue that became more acute once The Guardian began publishing material leaked by Mr. Snowden in June.

The American and British governments have said the disclosures, which detail how the National Security Agency and its equivalent in Britain, Government Communication Headquarters, gather vast amounts of data, damage national security and help hostile governments. Journalists and transparency advocates have countered that the leak spurred a vital debate on privacy and the role of spy agencies in the Internet age.

Comment: Unbelievable. After all that has been publicised since the leaks began in June, they don't even pretend to be upset that spying on citizens for purposes of intimidation, blackmail and social control has gotten completely out of hand... instead they publicly interrogate the whistleblowers while patting the criminals on the back:

Britain's spy chiefs make daylight debut like a trio of Draculas in winter sun


Bad Guys

How to stick it to the poor: A congressional strategy

Why choose between under-educating children and taking the food out of their tiny mouths?
snake in suit
© Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)Congress is stickin' it to us all this Christmas, but especially, to the poor.
The 113th Congress has stuck it to the poor at pretty much every opportunity. In fact, if you take all their past and future plans into account, it looks like they have accomplished that rare feat: To close in on enacting an overarching, radical agenda without control of the Senate or the presidency.

How did they do it? Probably by escaping scrutiny through a piecemeal approach to legislation, a president who is willing to meet them halfway, and one diabolic word: Sequester.

Comment: It becomes more and more evident as the days pass that members of the U.S. Congress lack conscience and empathy. Is this the kind of legislative 'leadership' Americans really want to support?

Do they really 'serve' in the best interests of the majority of Americans?


Gear

CIA's anti-terrorism effort called 'colossal flop'

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CIA officers given 'non-official cover,' often posing as business executives, tried to collect intelligence on terrorists. The NOC program reportedly has had few successes.

Several years ago, a senior officer in the CIA clandestine service attended a closed-door conference for overseas operatives. Speakers included case officers who were working in the manner Hollywood usually portrays spies - out on their own.

Most CIA officers abroad pose as U.S. diplomats. But those given what's called non-official cover are known as NOCs, pronounced "knocks," and they typically pose as business executives. At the forum, the NOCs spoke of their cover jobs, their false identities and measures taken to protect them. Few said much about gathering intelligence.

A colleague passed a caustic note to the senior officer. "Lots of business," it read. "Little espionage."

Twelve years after the CIA began a major push to get its operatives out of embassy cubicles and into foreign universities, businesses and other local perches to collect intelligence on terrorists and rogue nations, the effort has been a disappointment, current and former U.S. officials say. Along with other parts of the CIA, the budget of the so-called Global Deployment Initiative, which covers the NOC program, is now being cut.

Comment: Oh but we beg to differ.

It's been an extraordinary success.

Americans in particular have fallen into line behind the War on Terror, and have been herded into ever finer orders of control.

The purpose of these programs is never their stated purpose. They know Iran isn't what they say it is. They know they have to create and maintain the phony 'Muslim terror threat' - even if that means torturing innocent people just to get their 'confessions' on record.

The true purpose lies behind the ideology and the outward structure.

The true purpose is to keep people believing in the myth that authorities have any control over reality, even as it comes apart at the seams.


Pistol

Sandy Hook: The Gun Range Myth and other media-created fantasies

Everything we were told is wrong

The Gun Range Myth


We've screened and edited over 100 hours of commentary on the Sandy Hook (Newtown) shooting. Our written commentary appears below after the videos. The key issues in this story are best covered in the videos that appear on these pages.

Comment:
Sandy Hook cover-up continues: Connecticut State Investigation ends with records sealed, crime scene destroyed, motive 'unknown'
SOTT Talk Radio: The Sandy Hook Massacre, What Really Happened?