Puppet Masters
In a speech at the Atlantic Council in Washington, Abrams claimed that supporters of the late Venezuelan leader were "watching the Maduro regime destroy [Chavez's] legacy," and called on Chavistas to embrace US-backed efforts to install opposition leader Juan Guaido as the head of government.
The remarks didn't sit well with Maduro, who mocked Abrams for lecturing Venezuelans about how to best honor Chavez's political vision.
"Elliott Abrams now pretends to be the defender of Chavez's legacy. Is it credible? Why do you now pretend to say that Chavez was very good and Maduro is very bad? Where's that message going? What's the point? It's a vulgar maneuver," he said in an address.

Senator Bernie Sanders listens to Vice President Joe Biden at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. July 27, 2016.
According to Trump, it's apparently a case of 'once a cheater, always a cheater,' as he accused the DNC of stepping into the same river again by rallying behind the establishment candidate, former vice president Joe Biden.
"The Democratic National Committee, sometimes referred to as the DNC, is again working its magic in its quest to destroy Crazy Bernie Sanders for the more traditional, but not very bright, Sleepy Joe Biden," Trump tweeted on Saturday, urging Sanders to stand up against a fresh affront on his second shot at the presidency. "Here we go again Bernie, but this time please show a little more anger and indignation when you get screwed!" Trump tweeted.
Comment: See also:
- 'Sleepy Joe' Biden finally declares for 2020 presidential race
- 'Creepy Uncle Joe' thinks he's the only Democrat that can defeat Trump in 2020
- Democrats want a 'Muslim transgender candidate' but will have to make due with Joe Biden
- Nix retirement, Biden announces 2nd term in office before winning 1st one
- Delusional? Joe Biden tiptoes towards a 2020 run
Russia is doing its utmost to invest in its Northern Sea Route, a major maritime lane spanning between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, but much more could be done in the future, Putin said. "We are considering connecting it with the Chinese Maritime Silk Road," the president explained.
If that ambitious effort succeeds, "a global and competitive route connecting northeastern, eastern and southeastern Asia with Europe" will emerge. All countries taking part in the Belt and Road Initiative are therefore encouraged to embark on the project.
Inspired by the historic trade routes that connected Europe to East Asia, Beijing's Maritime Silk Road project makes up the overseas portion of its Belt and Road Initiative by linking Chinese ports to ones in Europe, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and East Africa. However, routes passing through disputed territories in the South China Sea could potentially raise geopolitical tensions with neighboring Vietnam, the Philippines Malaysia, and Taiwan if left unresolved. The waterway sees $5 trillion in trade pass through it every year.
Somewhat paradoxically, given his suggestion that lying was routine and common, the same Prof. Beschorner continued: "Whether this is an isolated case, or the problem is systemic and therefore widespread, we don't know yet."
Then a similar case was discovered. An award winning contributor to Sueddeutsche Zeitung Magazine, Dirk Gieselmann, had invented a main protagonist in a story he wrote. The SZ stated the forgery had taken place, but revealed few details, while suggesting the case was not as severe as that of Relotius.
One way or another, do two known recent cases of fictitious journalism in Germany make the problem systemic?
But what about the infamous fake news? And alternative facts? Those have been around for a while. Is that something totally different from making up plots and characters as in the above mentioned cases?
Even though it was Donald Trump who was credited with creating the fake-news brand, it was largely applied to his own statements, as well as various stories, posts and tweets coming out of Russia, on its behalf, in favour of its perceived friends, and against its perceived enemies.
The MSNBC host ascended her Twitter pulpit to share a shocking Washington Post article detailing how YouTube allegedly recommended an RT video "hundreds of thousands of times" to users seeking information about the recently released report by special counsel Robert Mueller.
"Death by algorithm," a despondent Maddow commented.
The video in question - an episode of On Contact, which is hosted by Pulitzer prize-winning American journalist Chris Hedges - features an interview with Canadian journalist Aaron Mate. A fierce critic of the Trump-Russia collusion theory promoted by mainstream media, Mate recently received an Izzy Award for his contrarian reporting on Russiagate.

President Reuven Rivlin (right) and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a memorial service marking 23 years since the assassination of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, at Mount Herzl cemetery in Jerusalem, on October 21, 2018.
Local authorities say 19-year-old John Earnest opened fire with an assault rifle on worshipers during morning services on the last day of Passover, killing 60-year-old Lori Gilbert-Kaye and wounding three people: the rabbi, Yisroel Goldstein; Israeli Noya Dahan, 8, who was hit by shrapnel in the face and leg; and her uncle Almog Peretz, 31, who was shot in the leg. All three are in stable condition.
The attack happened exactly six months after a shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue killed 11 people in the deadliest attack on Jews in US history.
"I condemn the abhorrent attack on a synagogue in California; this is an attack on the heart of the Jewish people," Netanyahu said in a statement. "We send condolences to the family of Lori Gilbert-Kaye and our best wishes for a quick recovery to the wounded. The international community must step up the struggle against anti-Semitism."
Comment: Not just anti-Semitism. This comes hot on the heels of major attacks on churches and mosques. The mentality of the attackers is the same, whether they're Jewish, Christian, Muslim. But identity-politics-obsessed leaders like Netanyahu are only concerned about their own tribe.
In light of an upsurge in anti-Semitic attacks around the world, Netanyahu "will this week convene a special discussion of all elements dealing with the issue," the Prime Minister's Office added.
Mohammad Javad Zarif said that quitting the agreement designed to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons was among "numerous options" available to Tehran, state broadcaster IRIB reported on Sunday. The move comes after the Trump administration announced new efforts on Monday to cut Iranian oil exports "to zero" by removing exemptions from sanctions for US buyers of Iranian crude.
Comment: This is a longer-form video report from South Front. And an exceptionally good one at that. Though focusing on the Western elites' hare-brained schemes to break up Russia to 'save it', the methods it describes are at work globally as part of the One World Government's desire to
Transcript
At the start of the year, on January 9, The Hill, a leading US political newspaper, as if setting the year's agenda put out an article entitled "Managing Russia's dissolution". The article reviews the measures needed to dismantle Russia and instigate civil conflicts on the territory of Eurasia. The author, Bugajski, describes Russia as "a declining state that disguises its internal infirmities with external offensives". He further claims that "Russia is heading toward fragmentation" under "rising social, ethnic and regional pressures" and simultaneously blamed the federal government both for failing "to develop into a nation state with a strong ethnic or civic identity" and for working to centralize control over the regions.
The article continues with speculations that "regions such as Sakha and Magadan in the far east, with their substantial mineral wealth, could be successful states without Moscow's exploitation" and that "emerging states will benefit from forging closer economic and political contacts with neighboring countries rather than depending on Moscow". Siberia and Russia's far east are also named among the regions that "will become" separated from the center "thus encouraging demands for secession and sovereignty".

Yellow Vests protesters march on the Champs Elysees avenue in Paris, March 2, 2019.
Even though the Yellow Vest anti-government movement is historic in scope, duration and intensity, and even though Muslims comprise 5-10% of France's population, there has been almost zero media coverage of the interplay between these two forces.
Check Google in French or English and you truly find almost nothing. I have been waiting and waiting to do a story on this angle for Iran's PressTV - I am their Paris correspondent - but there is simply no "news peg" from which we can start any report.
The reasons for this silence are due to four key reasons but, mostly, it's because the plight of Muslims and Yellow Vests are so obviously similar: just as French media ignores the Muslim community to promote violent misrepresentations instead, so they ignore the true substance of the Yellow Vests in favor of tabloid coverage.
Comment: The author may wish for more, but just the fact that this protest movement is taking place in France - the Western country with the largest Muslim majority - tells us a lot about its overall resilience against the decades of 'clash of civilization' brainwashing, and the utter failure of the 'Global War on Terror' to atomize this particular population into total submission...
In an interview with The Sunday Times, which took place after the murder of Lyra McKee in Derry on April 18, representatives from the group's army council acknowledged there was no public support for their campaign of violence but said they would continue to mount attacks in Northern Ireland for propaganda reasons.
Comment: So, this newly constituted terrorist group kills someone, then has a free pass to be interviewed by the British security services' favourite newspaper? Hmmm...
"Our armed actions serve one purpose. They are symbolic. They are propaganda. They let the world know there is an ongoing conflict in Northern Ireland," said one of the dissident leaders.
"Condemning the IRA is nothing new. We are not interested in being popular. Republicanism has always been a small core of people."
The dissident added: "Brexit has forced the IRA to refocus and has underlined how Ireland remains partitioned. It would be remiss of us not to capitalise on the opportunity."
Comment: The return of Irish 'nationalist' terrorism in Northern Ireland (and in Britain) in recent years has only one real winner: the British security state. (Well, two winners: the pro-Anglo-American ultra-liberal Dublin government gets to rag on again about the evils of nationalism).
A fundamental reason why Sinn Fein/the Provisional IRA gave up terrorism in the 1990s was because their organization was by then thoroughly riddled with British (and even some American) spies. For decades, their man in charge of deciding who was or was not a British spy (and executing them)... was a British spy.
With the game rigged at that level, Sinn Fein/IRA settled for playing politics and the long game. It took a little longer than they anticipated, but indeed an opportunity for Irish reunification has opened up: Brexit. But they have to play it right. And, as any actual Irish nationalist will have obviously by now figured out, playing it violently is the surest way for reunification to NOT happen.
What better way to thwart the leverage the EU currently has over London, whereby it risks 'losing' Northern Ireland to Dublin/the EU in the event of a hard Brexit, than by reigniting a spiral of terror which justifies the re-imposition of a hard border?
"Sorry, we would have allowed you to govern yourselves, whole and free, but you're clearly not civilized enough for that yet..."











Comment: See also: