Puppet MastersS


Chess

China 'in agreement' with Russia over Ukraine troops


Sky News
Mon, 03 Mar 2014 17:28 UTC
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© SkynewsA Russian navy ship enters the port of Sevastopol.
Russia has said China is largely "in agreement" over Ukraine, after other world powers condemned Moscow for sending troops into the country.

Hundreds of Russian soldiers have surrounded a military base in Crimea, preventing Ukrainian soldiers from going in or out.

The convoy blockading the site, near the Crimean capital Simferopol, includes at least 17 military vehicles.

Russian troops are also reported to have taken control of a ferry terminal in the city of Kerch on the eastern tip of Crimea, which has a majority Russian-speaking population.

Ukraine's defence ministry said two Russian fighter jets violated the country's air space in the Black Sea on Sunday night and that it had scrambled an interceptor aircraft to prevent the "provocative actions".

And reports claimed pro-Russian protesters had occupied a floor of the regional government building in Donetsk. The 11-storey building has been flying the Russian flag for the last three days.
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Star of David

'U.S. admits Mossad behind Iran scientists assassinations'


Press TV
Sun, 02 Mar 2014 15:24 UTC
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© PressTVPeople carry the coffin of Iranian nuclear scientist Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan during his funeral after the Friday prayers outside Tehran University, Iran, January 13, 2012
The United States is pressuring Israel to stop assassinating Iranian nuclear scientists, admitting that Mossad agents were behind the string of terrorist attacks, a new report says.

In a rare confession that Mossad agents were behind the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists, the report written by Dan Raviv and published by the CBS News said that Washington officials have communicated to Israeli intelligence agencies to stop the targeting of scientists, saying it may derail nuclear talks between Tehran and world powers.
In his report Dan Raviv, a journalist who co-wrote a book about Israel's Mossad secret operations, also said that apart from Washington's pressure, Israel's intelligence agencies have also concluded that the operations had become too dangerous for them as they do not want their experienced forces to be "captured and hanged."
In their 2012 book, entitled Spies Against Armageddon: Inside Israel's Secret Wars, Raviv and Israeli journalist Yossi Melman said that Israeli spies have killed at least four Iranian nuclear scientists.
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Hardhat

Western spindoctors bait Putin, but he doesn't bite

Jim W. Dean
Press TV
Mon, 03 Mar 2014 12:35 UTC
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© LaGazetta
I don't know who the Western spinmeisters think they are fooling. Since the official end of the Cold War and defense spending was scaled back, it did not take the warmongers long to create a new plan to replace the old Cold War and keep those defense contracts flowing.

In what turned out to be a cruel twist of fate, Mao's Long March, and the old Soviet Union's claim to world proletariat domination have been replaced by NATO's march to Russia's western borders, and America's Asia Pivot to threaten China's energy supply lines. It looks like the old Cold War protagonists have switched sides.

Where credible offensive threats were not to be found, phony ones were conjured up to pick the pockets of Western citizens for new high tech and white elephant weapons programs to feed the greedy arms industry merchants.

The same amount of expenditure put into peacetime infrastructure could have gone a long way to preventing the horrible state of the world's financial condition. There we find the West once again at the head of the pack of looters and raiders, making war on friend and foe alike as an equal opportunity employer.
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Horse

Propaganda exposed: Russian Defense Ministry dismisses Ukraine ultimatum reports as 'total nonsense'


RT
Mon, 03 Mar 2014 13:51 UTC
Ukrainian servicemen
© Reuters / Vasily FedosenkoUkrainian servicemen on the territory of their military unit located some 80 km (50 miles) southwest of Simferopol, Crimea's capital, March 3, 2014.
Media reports about an alleged Russian ultimatum made to the Ukrainian armed forces in Crimea are "total nonsense," a spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry said.

He said that no ultimatum had been made to the Ukrainian forces, Interfax reports.

"We have become accustomed to the daily accusations by the Ukrainian media of carrying out some sort of military actions against our Ukrainian colleagues," Russian Black Sea Fleet representative said, adding that "those who want to pit us against each other in the Crimea won't succeed."

"There's nothing new about such disinformation. It's clear who is behind this. Those 'puppeteers' have been unable to come up with anything new since Yugoslavia, Iraq and Syria," he added.

Also, a source in the Russian Defense Ministry told RT that they are unaware of any Russian ultimatum toward the Ukrainian forces in Crimea.

The source revealed that they had only heard about the alleged ultimatum from a report by Interfax-Ukraine news agency.

"We're interested in keeping friendly relations with the people of Ukraine and in preserving stability," the source told RT.
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Arrow Down

Obama to Israel: Time is running out

Jeffrey Goldberg
Bloomberg View
Mon, 03 Mar 2014 13:04 UTC
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© Unknown
When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits the White House tomorrow, President Barack Obama will tell him that his country could face a bleak future -- one of international isolation and demographic disaster -- if he refuses to endorse a U.S.-drafted framework agreement for peace with the Palestinians. Obama will warn Netanyahu that time is running out for Israel as a Jewish-majority democracy. And the president will make the case that Netanyahu, alone among Israelis, has the strength and political credibility to lead his people away from the precipice.

In an hourlong interview Thursday in the Oval Office, Obama, borrowing from the Jewish sage Rabbi Hillel, told me that his message to Netanyahu will be this: "If not now, when? And if not you, Mr. Prime Minister, then who?" He then took a sharper tone, saying that if Netanyahu "does not believe that a peace deal with the Palestinians is the right thing to do for Israel, then he needs to articulate an alternative approach." He added, "It's hard to come up with one that's plausible."

Unlike Netanyahu, Obama will not address the annual convention of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel lobbying group, this week -- the administration is upset with Aipac for, in its view, trying to subvert American-led nuclear negotiations with Iran. In our interview, the president, while broadly supportive of Israel and a close U.S.-Israel relationship, made statements that would be met at an Aipac convention with cold silence.
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Cow

Propaganda alert: Russian ultimatum given to Ukraine's Crimea forces


Press TV
Mon, 03 Mar 2014 13:00 UTC

Russia's Black Sea Fleet in the autonomous region of Crimea has reportedly given an ultimatum to Ukrainian forces in the peninsula.

The ultimatum came from Alexander Vitko, the head of Russia's Crimean naval base, asking the Ukrainian troops in the territory either to surrender or face military action by a deadline of 5 a.m. local time (3 a.m. GMT) on Tuesday.

Comment: Propaganda exposed: Russian Defense Ministry dismisses Ukraine ultimatum reports as 'total nonsense'

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Propaganda

U.S. concedes Russia has control of Crimea

Paul Lewis, Spencer Ackerman and Jon Swaine
The Guardian
Mon, 03 Mar 2014 14:56 UTC
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© AFP/Genya SavilovPro-Russian activists hold a giant Russian flag as they rally in Simferopol, the administrative center of Crimea, on March 1, 2014.
The US conceded on Sunday that Moscow had "complete operational control of the Crimean peninsula" and announced that the secretary of state, John Kerry, will fly to Kiev in an attempt to halt a further Russian advance into Ukraine.

Senior US officials dismissed claims that Washington is incapable of exerting influence on the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, but were forced to admit that Crimea had been successfully invaded by 6,000 airborne and ground troops in what could be the start of a wider invasion.

"They are flying in reinforcements and they are settling in," one senior official said. Another senior official said: "Russian forces now have complete operational control of the Crimean peninsula."

On Monday, the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said he had discussed Ukraine with his Chinese counterpart and their views coincided on the situation there.

Lavrov said in a statement that the two veto-wielding UN security council members would stay in close contact on the issue.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian border guards reported a buildup of armoured vehicles near a ferry port on the Russian side of the Kerch Channel - a narrow sea channel dividing Russia and the Ukraine. A statement from the guard spokesperson said Russian ships had also been moving in and around the city of Sevastopol, where the Russian Black Sea fleet has a base, and that Russian forces had blocked telephone services in some areas.

Comment: Sophmoric peer pressure: Lawmakers call for G8 suspension of Russia

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USA

Leftovers from Afghanistan and Iraq wars: Amputations, severe brain injuries and post-traumatic stress disorders

Noel Brinkerhoff
ALL Gov
Mon, 03 Mar 2014 12:31 UTC
Amputees
© Chris Kleponis, Pool, Getty ImagesGeorge W. Bush with Afghanistan War amputees Neil Duncan and Max Ramsey, July 24, 2006.

The American toll from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan can be contemplated in many different ways, thanks to the Congressional Research Service (CRS).

A new CRS report (pdf) has provided a human accounting not only of how many service personnel died in the two conflicts, but of the many kinds of serious, life-long injuries with which thousands returned home.

A total of 1,558 soldiers endured major limb amputations as a result of battlefield injuries. Major limb amputations include the loss of one or more limbs, the loss of one or more partial limbs, or the loss of one or more full or partial hand or foot, according to the CRS.

Considerably more military personnel suffered "severe or penetrating brain injuries" - 7,224. Another 23,319 men and women were diagnosed with "moderate" brain injuries.

When "mild" and "not classifiable" cases are factored in, nearly 288,000 total brain injury cases were reported among all military personnel deployed and not deployed.

Then there are the post-traumatic stress disorder cases. The military and the Department of Veterans Affairs are currently trying to help 118,829 individuals who made it back with this mental disorder.
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Pirates

Ukrainian militants caught trying to smuggle arms and explosives into Crimea


RT.com
Mon, 03 Mar 2014 12:04 UTC
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The self-defense forces guarding the borders of the Ukrainian autonomous republic of Crimea have prevented a large amount of firearms and explosives from being smuggled into the republic by Kiev radicals.

The Cossacks and Berkut troops at the road checkpoint in the Crimean peninsula have confiscated explosives equivalent to 400 kilograms of TNT as well as grenades, rifles and guns, Russia-1 TV channel reports.

The blasting agent was transported in a single batch by a truck, with the local self-defense forces currently investigating the origins and the purpose of the load. They told told RIA-Novosti news agency that the driver and the passenger of the truck were Maidan activists.

"They are citizens of Lvov [in western Ukraine], Maksim Shepetaylo - born in 1990 and Vasily Pusko - born in 1989. They didn't hide the fact that since December last year that active participated in Maidan clashes [in Kiev]," the source said.

One of the Berkut soldiers, who like many of his comrades refused to follow the order to disband from the self-proclaimed government in the Ukrainian capital, told Russia-1 TV that the majority of the arms were seized from vehicles with Kiev numbers.
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War Whore

Repeat of the Crimean war?

Professor Mazin Qumsiyeh
Popular Resistance
Sun, 02 Mar 2014 11:34 UTC
The Siege of Sevastopol 1855
The Siege of Sevastopol 1855
It is sometimes instructive to learn a bit of history to reflect on current events because if we do not learn from history, we are bound to repeat the tragic history of useless wars. This came to me as I read about the escalating situation in Ukraine, where the US and western countries invested heavily to dislodge the Ukraine (strategically located on the Black Sea) from Russian influence. The coup that toppled the elected government in the capital and Russia's strong influence in the mostly Russian Speaking Crimean peninsula of the Ukraine threatens to ignite another Crimean war (1854 prelude to many more European wars).
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