© TFTP
Puppet Masters
© Pete Souza / The White House, Wikipedia Commons
File photo of John Brennan, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
File photo of John Brennan, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
This, in turn, has led many Americans to realize that America's powerful, un-elected secret police agencies serve an agenda all their own, and that they choose sides in political controversies. Consequently, polls show one's views of the CIA and the FBI depend largely on one's ideological bent. Polls from Fox News and NBC news in recent years show that as various government bureaucracies have ratcheted up their hostility to Trump, more Democrats and Hillary Clinton voters have said they trust the CIA and the FBI.
Why the president and this deep state should be at odds has never been obvious to casual observers. Last month, however, in an article titled "Trump's War on the 'Deep State' Turns Against Him," the New York Times at last explained that there is indeed very real enmity between Trump and agencies such as the CIA and the FBI. The Times contends that Trump "went to war with the professional staff" of the intelligence agencies and the State Department.
The Times notes Trump has condemned "deep state bureaucrats," and claims Trump's "hostility toward government was strong from the start. He blamed the leak of the so-called Steele dossier of unverified allegations against him on intelligence agencies and never trusted their conclusion that Russia intervened in the 2016 election on his behalf."
Trump was right to be defensive, of course. But that controversy over Russia was never really about what the Russians were up to. The focus was always largely about how much Trump colluded with the Russians to win the 2016 election.
Ultimately, the evidence was so non-existent, that after a nearly-three-year investigation, Robert Mueller was unable to establish evidence of collusion between Trump and the Russians. As Glenn Greenwald has noted: "not a single American — whether with the Trump campaign or otherwise — was charged or indicted on the core question of whether there was any conspiracy or coordination with Russia over the election."
© Reuters / SANA / Handout
Epstein "was killed because he knew a lot of vital secrets connected with very important people in the British and American regimes, and possibly in other countries as well," Assad told Russian channel Rossiya-24 in an interview Thursday.
Assad suggested that the convicted sex offender's death was analogous to the unusual demise earlier this week of White Helmets founder James Le Mesurier, who allegedly jumped out of a window at his home in Turkey. Turkish police are treating Le Mesurier's death as suicide.
"They turned into a burden once they had played out their roles. A dire need to do away with them surfaced after they had fulfilled their roles."
Assad was referring not just to Epstein and Le Mesurier, but also to Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden - originally trained by the CIA to fight the Soviet Union in Afghanistan - and Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who spent time in American custody in the notorious Camp Bucca and Abu Ghraib prisons in Iraq. All these "had been killed chiefly because they knew major secrets," the Syrian leader argued.
Comment: See also,
- James Le Mesurier: British spy trainer behind White Helmets 'found dead' in Istanbul
- The West & Israel provide 'exceptional' rescue strategy for the White Helmets
- NSA docs reveal ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi trained by Israeli Mossad
- Former Israeli Intel Official Claims Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell Worked for Israel
UPDATE: Upon further review of the photos, I actually believe the section includes the missile's active radar seeker, as well. That seems to be the component hanging out of the front of the tube. In other words, this would be the entire seeker and fuse section forward of the fins. Obviously, the loss would be even more significant if this is indeed the case.
Comment: RT reports:
The timing must be perfect, considering the astounding speeds at which both the targeted projectile and the interceptor travel. So, it's no surprise that the components responsible for it, the active radar seeker and the fuse section, are highly classified (and sought-after by anyone wishing to reverse engineer the Israeli technology). Usually an interceptor that fails to hit its target self-destructs to protect its secrets.And back in August: Israeli drone crashes in South Beirut suburbs, another 'prematurely explodes'
The Tamir missile is produced by Rafael, a major Israeli state-owned defense contractor also involved in production of the longer-range David's Sling air defense system. The interceptors are estimated to cost between $40,000 and $100,000 a-piece and are usually fired from launchers carrying 20 missiles each. Two interceptors are launched against an enemy projectile deemed a threat, to ensure a kill.
The Iron Dome systems have been used extensively this week amid hostilities between Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad and Israel after the latter killed Bahaa Abu al-Atta, a senior militant commander, and reportedly tried to kill an Islamic Jijad political operative in Syria.
See also:
- When Israel's military begins to attack, so does its army of evil online trolls
- Iran hacks and controls US drones, shows footage from missions as proof
- China's curiously American arsenal of weapons
© AP Photo / Jonathan Ernst
For the time being, NATO is going through an existential crisis, being just a "shadow" of what it used to be, Jurgen Trittin, a Bundestag member from the Green Party and member of the German Parliament's Foreign Policy Committee, shared in a Der Spiegel op-ed.
"One can choose to sugarcoat NATO, like German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas is doing or state unequivocally: the alliance is losing its integrity", the parliamentarian wrote.
President Macron's words about NATO's "brain death" are all correct, the op-ed's author says.
"What's the alliance about if its biggest economic player deems cars from Germany, the second biggest one, as a threat to its national security?" the politician queries.
According to him, the German foreign minister misses the NATO "that no longer exists".
"In the 70th year of its existence, the alliance is more like just a shadow of its own self", Trittin notes.
Comment: It's about time that some European politicians realized that NATO's objectives hurt the well-being of their countries. Just notice the huge amount of refugees that enter EU countries causing the destabilization of the continent, refugees and immigrants from countries that NATO destroyed, literally or economically.
- Macron says NATO is brain-dead - Russia and all thinking humans agree
- China and France sign deals worth $15 billion during Macron's visit, as French president diagnoses 'brain-death of NATO'
- US General Dunford claims NATO's advantage over Russia has 'eroded'
- The Saker: President Macron makes an amazing admission about Western geopolitics
- Stephen F. Cohen interview with Aaron Maté: The emerging cracks in NATO's confrontation with Russia
© Reuters / Marco Bello
A pro-Morales demonstrator and armed members of the security forces during clashes in La Paz, Bolivia, November 15, 2019
A pro-Morales demonstrator and armed members of the security forces during clashes in La Paz, Bolivia, November 15, 2019
"We ask the armed forces and the Bolivian Police to stop the massacre," Morales said in a tweet late on Friday. "The uniform of the institutions of the Homeland cannot be stained with the blood of our people."
At least five protesters were killed and some 75 injured in the streets of Cochabamba on Friday during hectic skirmishes with police and military after thousands of indigenous Morales backers gathered to protest the socialist leader's ouster. Though there was no violence at the rally in the morning, clashes broke out when the military blocked the march from crossing a nearby checkpoint.
Comment: The US puppet in Bolivia recognizes the US puppet in Venezuela while killing the people who are protesting the forceful removal of the president who they repeatedly chose to represent them.
- 'A classic coup': Bolivia's new government is a 'military regime with no constitutional authority' - Max Blumenthal
- Resignation of Bolivia's Evo Morales Was No Victory for Democracy, but a US-Sponsored Coup
- Bolivia Coup Led by Christian Fascist Paramilitary Leader And Millionaire - With Foreign Support
- Dissection of the coup: Top Bolivian coup plotters were grads from SOA, attachés in FBI police programs
- Bolivia's coup: Morales toppled not due to his failures, but due to his success
- Evo Morales plans to transform Bolivia into major global hub of lithium-based technologies
© Fox News
It has been seven days since the public first learned that ABC conspired with CBS News to have an individual fired from her job with the latter because ABC suspected that she is the one who leaked the video.
It has been five days since the public first heard from the fired CBS producer, Ashley Bianco, that she was not the individual responsible for leaking ABC's archival footage of Robach.
It has been one day since the public first learned that ABC is still hunting for the real leaker, who is apparently still employed by the network, and that top executives are reportedly "freaking out" over the anonymous employee's secret identity.
Comment: See also:
© act-il.com
A promotional photo for the Act.IL app.
A promotional photo for the Act.IL app.
Michael Bueckert is a PhD student in sociology and political economy at Carleton University and, since April 2018, he's maintained a Twitter account that tracks the app's "missions." Bueckert spoke to Mondoweiss' Michael Arria about the history of the project, its use during the recent attacks on Gaza, and whether or not it's actually having an impact on anyone.
Arria: So just to start, I think a lot of people on our site are probably familiar with your work. But for people who maybe are not, can you briefly describe the ACT.IL app and explain who funds it?
Bueckert: Yes. So, for a couple of years now, I've been following Israel's semiofficial propaganda app. It's called ACT.IL and was set up in a sort of partnership between the Israeli government and a number of American pro-Israel lobby groups funded by Sheldon Adelson. There is a lack of clarity perhaps about the exact nature of that relationship.
The app was funded in part by the Israeli government... I think that the government paid for the development of the website that it was hosted on and paid for a lot of advertising including sponsored content, like sponsored articles in Israeli newspapers that look like they are just regular reporting, but were paid for by the Israeli government essentially. At the time the developers of the app were talking about how they were working with the Shin Bet [Israel's internal security service] and, you know, Israeli defense officials to identify targets online and to have a sort of duty to craft responses. But they've kind of backtracked on that.
Georgian banker Mamuka Khazaradze, the co-founder of the country's largest universal bank and the man behind the Anaklia Port project, recently had a falling out with the government after being charged with money laundering and thus decided to form his own political party called "Lelo" in an attempt to unseat his opponents during next year's parliamentary elections as revenge. This in and of itself wouldn't be an event worthy of international attention had it not been for the fact that the US Embassy in Georgia signaled its support for him after the charges were made and reiterated that it also continues to support his Anaklia Port project as well. About that investment, it's planned to be the country's largest one in history and envisages the creation of a deep-water port for facilitating Chinese-European trade. It's an interesting idea in principle that was formerly supported by the government, but the authorities balked at demands from potential international creditors that they underwrite the hundreds of millions of dollars in loans that would be required for its completion.
The Argument Against Anaklia
Comment: Below are just some of the more recent coups, 'colour revolutions' and riots occurring around the world that the US has played a part in:
- US embassy's sordid role in stoking October protests in Iraq revealed in Lebanese paper
- Bolivia Coup Led by Christian Fascist Paramilitary Leader And Millionaire - With Foreign Support
- How Neocon money is funding the Hong Kong protests
- After Syria & Venezuela, Russian military prepares for Hybrid war
- Peacemaking: Russian diplomats encourage Georgia to sign non-aggression pact with Abkhazia and South Ossetia
- Medvedev on 'unstable' Saakashvili, Georgia's connections to NATO and the 2008 war to protect South Ossetia
- Georgian opposition TV host bad-mouths Putin and Russia on air, sends country into meltdown
© screenshot
General Williams Kaliman, head of Bolivia's military
General Williams Kaliman, head of Bolivia's military
Just prior to Morales' resignation, the commander of Bolivia's armed forces Williams Kaliman "suggested" that the president step down. A day earlier, sectors of the country's police force had rebelled.
Though Kaliman appears to have feigned loyalty to Morales over the years, his true colors showed as soon as the moment of opportunity arrived. He was not only an actor in the coup, he had his own history in Washington, where he had briefly served as the military attaché of Bolivia's embassy in the US capital.
Kaliman sat at the top of a military and police command structure that has been substantially cultivated by the US through WHINSEC, the military training school in Fort Benning, Georgia known in the past as the School of the Americas. Kaliman himself attended a course called "Comando y Estado Mayor" at the SOA in 2003.
At least six of the key coup plotters were former alumni of the infamous School of the Americas, while Kaliman and another figure served in the past as Bolivia's military and police attachés in Washington.
© screenshot
School of Americas grads
School of Americas grads
Comment: See also: