Puppet Masters

To keep Russia great: Putin's final term as president will be his most difficult

Bryan MacDonald
RT
Mon, 07 May 2018 13:24 UTC

When Putin first became president in 2000, he inherited a basket case. Since then, he has restored much of Russia's former greatness. Now he faces his toughest challenge: ensuring those gains are consolidated after his departure.

Since his first presidential election victory, there have been three Putin epochs. And to partially borrow from Donald Trump's successful US election pitch, they have been: 'make Russia stable again' (2000-03), 'make Russia rich' (2004-07), and 'make Russia respected again' (2012-17).

Now, in his presumed final term, Putin has to achieve something which eluded long-serving Kremlin bosses in the 20th century. And that is to manage a successful transition. Because, in the Soviet era, Josef Stalin (28 years in power) and Leonid Brezhnev (18 years) both failed to plan for the future. With the former leaving behind a vicious power struggle and the latter's mismanagement creating the conditions for the complete collapse of the state, less than a decade after his own demise.

Of course, the USSR was a multi-national superpower (incidentally, Stalin was Georgian and Brezhnev Ukrainian) but running the slimmed-down Russian Federation is no cakewalk either. The system remains unwieldy, with many outdated practices stunting growth and an overgrown bureaucracy which stifles innovation. Not to mention a culture of dependency and a legal system crying out for an overhaul, with very few court acquittals and often poor implementation of property rights.

Comment: "The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep." - Robert Frost

See also:

Putin's Russia plan: Halve poverty, join world's five largest economies, increase life expectancy

Russian Foreign Ministry: Trump's Iran deal decision proves US unable to negotiate

RT
Tue, 08 May 2018 21:32 UTC

Moscow is "deeply disappointed" by Washington's decision to pull out from the Iranian nuclear deal, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. The step taken by the US is a "flagrant violation" of the international law, it added.

"The US once again acts contrary to the position of most countries while pursuing solely its own narrow selfish and momentary interests," the Russian ministry said in a statement, following the announcement by Donald Trump that the US is pulling out the deal and imposing sanctions on Iran. Washington "flagrantly violates the international law," the statement adds while drawing attention to the fact that "there are no reasons for disrupting" the deal.

What the US' actions really show is that Washington is, in fact, incapable of conducting negotiations, the statement says. The latest move taken by Trump only proves that the grievances the US has had against the "absolutely legal Iranian nuclear activity" have always been just a "pretext for settling political scores" with Tehran, it added.

Russian lawmakers also slammed Trump's decision. "This is an egregious violation of the UN Security Council's resolution as well as a disruption of years-long diplomatic efforts in this field that creates a threat to international security," the head of the Russian State Duma's International Affairs Committee, Leonid Slutsky, told journalists, referring to the US withdrawal from the deal.

Bernie Sanders is demanding answers for US ground troops in Saudi Arabia

Jake Johnson
MintPress News
Fri, 04 May 2018 00:00 UTC

As yet another news cycle was dominated by the latest chapter of the President Donald Trump-Stormy Daniels controversy on Thursday, the New York Times quietly published an alarming report detailing a secret U.S. Green Beret operation along Saudi Arabia's border with Yemen that was launched by the Trump White House late last year with no debate, discussion, or congressional authorization.

Responding to the Times report on Thursday - which indicates the U.S. has significantly escalated its involvement in Saudi Arabia's war on Yemen - Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) expressed alarm at the covert activities of American special forces and said he will be demanding answers about "these activities."

"I have strong concerns that the Trump administration is getting the U.S. more involved in a war in Yemen without congressional authorization," Sanders - who in March helped lead a failed effort to halt U.S. support for Saudi Arabia's relentless and illegal assault on Yemen - wrote on Twitter. "We must prevent the U.S. from getting dragged into another never-ending war."

Comment: Transparency isn't the US-Israel strong suit.
See also:

Pompeo flies to Pyongyang; Trump holds out for North Korea nuclear deal

RT
Tue, 08 May 2018 19:13 UTC

US President Donald Trump has announced that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is jetting in to meet Kim Jong-un after announcing the withdrawal from Iran nuclear agreement.

The decision to withdraw the US from a framework designed in 2015 to limit Iran's nuclear enrichment capabilities will now see the Islamic nation hit with the highest level of sanctions, Trump stated on Tuesday.

However, in announcing an end to what he described as a "decaying and rotten structure," the US president also surprised reporters by revealing that Mike Pompeo was on a plane to North Korea.

Comment: Other countries view US actions collectively and historically, not individually. It would be surprising if Kim is not influenced nor affected by Trump's Iran agreement rebuff.

See also:
Yuge mistake: Trump pulls out of Iran deal, plans more sanctions - Iran calls decision illegal, plans to keep deal

WH: Pelosi is responsible for waterboarding policy, not CIA pick Gina Haspel

Paul Bedard
Washington Examiner
Tue, 08 May 2018 05:51 UTC

The White House has aggressively stepped up its campaign for secret agent Gina Haspel to run the CIA, directly challenging Democratic leaders over "enhanced interrogation" of terrorists in claiming they were responsible for the policy, not those who implemented it.

In a new statement defending Haspel against expected charges she had a role in waterboarding al Qaeda's killers, the White House said instead that it was policymakers like then-House Minority Whip Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who were briefed and gave nod of approval.

From the White House statement:

Policymakers who set up, approved, and were briefed on enhanced interrogation techniques are the ones who were responsible for the program, not the CIA's dedicated and professional officers like Haspel who served honorably.
Congressional leadership, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), were briefed as early as 2002 on the CIA's interrogation program according to unclassified documents by the agency.
In 2009, then-CIA Director Leon Panetta confirmed this, stating that CIA officers had briefed certain Members of Congress in 2002.
The Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, which signed off on the CIA's interrogation program in 2002, determined the program's legality, not career officers at the agency.

Comment: Congress is ultimately responsible for policy in the USA -- not that it truly has authority over, nor access to the CIA. But if Haspel is so innocent, why the delay in recriminations and vindication? See also:

'Mistake of historic proportions': Trump under fire from Dems and Republicans for quitting Iran deal

RT
Wed, 09 May 2018 02:26 UTC

President Donald Trump has come under fire from both his political opponents and fellow Republicans for pulling the US out of the Iran nuclear deal, with lawmakers arguing the move will embolden Iran and make the US less secure.

As the international community is reeling in the aftermath of Trump's decision to tear up the landmark nuclear agreement with Iran, the controversial move did not sit well with US lawmakers at home either. Besides being castigated by Democrats, Trump has puzzled some Republicans, who believe that the withdrawal risks alienating US allies in Europe and adds nothing to American security.

The Senate's second-ranking Democrat, Dick Durbin, went as far as calling the decision a "mistake of historic proportions" that will allow Iran to resume its nuclear program and lead to self-isolation.

"It isolates the United States from the world at a time when we need our allies to come together to address nuclear threats elsewhere, particularly in Korea. This is a mistake of historic proportions," Durbin said in a statement, adding that "the last thing America and the world need right now is a new nuclear threat."

Other lawmakers have also voiced concern that Trump's decision to dismantle the deal, despite vocal opposition from its closest allies, except Israel, will ultimately undermine relations between them.

Comment: Where was Congress in all the pre-huff and puff. They knew this day was coming...didn't we all? Apparently Netanyahu is Trump's only sounding board and gatekeeper.

Moscow: US pressure on Iran has nothing to do with the JCPOA

RT
Tue, 08 May 2018 16:54 UTC

Increased US pressure on Iran is politically motivated and has nothing to do with the nuclear deal, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov has said.

Donald Trump has promised to announce his decision on the future of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) accord on Tuesday ahead of the May 12 deadline.

Sources told The New York Times that he's planning to withdraw from the accord, reinstating the old restrictions and imposing new ones against Tehran. Trump has previously slammed JCPOA as "the worst deal ever" and threatened to quit the landmark agreement if it's not amended to also include Iran's ballistic missile program and activities in the Middle East.

The US and Israel have claimed that Tehran has been developing missiles that are capable of carrying nuclear warheads. Washington's calls to broaden the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) deal in order for it to include the country's ballistic missile program are unjustified, Ryabkov told in an interview with RBC.

Comment: As we now know, President Trump did Israel's and the neocon's bidding, dumped the deal and in doing so, backed the US into a corner it may someday regret. Let's hope, before America goes farther down this path of no return, that day is today. Next signpost: False flags?

Max Blumenthal: 'Israel lobby now calling the shots in Trump's rollback policy on Iran'

RT
Wed, 09 May 2018 01:23 UTC

President Donald Trump's withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal is a result of a lobbying effort by American Jewish billionaires and recycled, cooked-up intelligence touted by the Israeli PM, journalist Max Blumenthal told RT.

Trump's decision to pull the US out of the deal, which capped Iran's uranium enrichment in return for economic sanctions relief, has drawn widespread criticism from Washington's European allies and Moscow, but it was lauded in Israel, which has long pushed for dismantling of the 2015 accord.

If this doesn't speak for itself, Blumenthal told RT that the roots of Trump's decision to scrap the deal can be easily traced back to Israel.

"Israeli influence is absolutely key here. At least, Trump sided [cited] Netanyahu's kind of used car salesman style of presentation in order to justify withdrawing from the Iran deal and his new policy of rollback," the journalist said.

Taking aim at the bizarre PowerPoint presentation delivered by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu late last month, Blumenthal pointed out the Israeli leader essentially "introduced nothing new in his presentation," adding that "much of the intelligence" appears to be "cooked" and stem from the early 2000s.

Comment: Do we see the play potential? Israeli lobbies buy US politicians. Israel maneuvers a willing Trump to nix the Iran nuclear deal. Blowback from everywhere isolates the US. Israel completes 'hands-on' control of the US, including the long sought-after war with Iran.

What does the US want in Iran? Iraqi-style regime change

RT
Tue, 08 May 2018 21:32 UTC

The US withdrawal from the nuclear deal with Tehran on Tuesday is the first step in the American plan for a regime change in Iran carried out in accordance with the Iraqi scenario, Middle East expert Sami Ramadani told RT.

"If one listens carefully to what Trump was saying, really, the US is not only withdrawing from this multilateral international agreement unilaterally - scrapping it, but it's also, actually, threatening a regime change in Iran," Ramadani said. "The tone of his [Trump's] speech; the words he used are reminiscent of George Bush Jr's speech" before the US-led the invasion in 2003 when "lies were used to launch a genocidal war against the people of Iraq," he said.

The expert noted that not only was the Iraqi regime overthrown due to the US' military involvement, but the whole country was "destroyed." The US has been trying to destabilize Iran for decades, he said.

Comment: Connect the dots from 9/11 to Iran regime change. The pattern and complexity becomes 'unsurprisingly' clear.

One trick pony: US sanctions on Venezuela are to overthrow the government, not bring democracy

RT
Tue, 08 May 2018 17:40 UTC

New US sanctions on Venezuela are part of a campaign aimed at overthrowing the government and have nothing to do with drug trafficking, democracy or electoral fraud, professor of Latin American studies William Robinson told RT.

US Vice President Mike Pence in his speech to the Organization of American States on Monday called for other nations to increase pressure on Venezuela, slamming the country's upcoming election as illegitimate. He called on Venezuela to suspend its presidential election scheduled for May 20.

The US also announced sanctions on three Venezuelans and 20 companies with ties to socialist President Nicolas Maduro for alleged narcotics trafficking.

Robinson, professor of sociology and global and Latin American Studies at the University of California, told RT the new sanctions are a blatant form of election meddling intended to bring about regime change.

RT: Apart from imposing new sanctions on Venezuela, Mike Pence has called on Nicolas Maduro to suspend presidential elections scheduled for May 20. What do you think of this demand from the US Vice President?

Comment: In US terms, an election is fair and square only if the winning party is willing to be a dutiful US puppet. If not, strangle it with sanctions. As Venezuela moves to cryptocurrency, increases trade with BRICS and pays commercial expenditures with its vast oil reserves, it defies the intended choke-hold of US sanctions. Adding 'fuel' to fire: Venezuela's Palestinian Authority oil deal.

See also:

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parzival

Bill Gates is going to be the one with the uncertain future,,, * New Lt. Governor of Virginia Winsome Sears: "We're going to have safer...

parzival

The more we hear about adverse affects the more we will merely shrug. It's a catch 22. Is that an asteroid trail in the photo?

sass

Welcome to the new normal. The more sensory exposure we have about such things, the less it is an issue.

sass

more misbehaving phuqqin' jewzskies starring on the sott; speaks for itself

Jibrish

Puppet Masters

To keep Russia great: Putin's final term as president will be his most difficult

Russian Foreign Ministry: Trump's Iran deal decision proves US unable to negotiate

Bernie Sanders is demanding answers for US ground troops in Saudi Arabia

Pompeo flies to Pyongyang; Trump holds out for North Korea nuclear deal

WH: Pelosi is responsible for waterboarding policy, not CIA pick Gina Haspel

'Mistake of historic proportions': Trump under fire from Dems and Republicans for quitting Iran deal

Moscow: US pressure on Iran has nothing to do with the JCPOA

Max Blumenthal: 'Israel lobby now calling the shots in Trump's rollback policy on Iran'

What does the US want in Iran? Iraqi-style regime change

One trick pony: US sanctions on Venezuela are to overthrow the government, not bring democracy

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