Puppet Masters

UK sends Apache helicopters 'close to Russia's border' for "deterrent" training exercises in Estonia

Irish Examiner
Mon, 15 Apr 2019 14:05 UTC

Five of the UK's Apache attack helicopters have been deployed to Estonia as a deterrent to a "very credible threat" from Russia.

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson watched the aircraft take off from Wattisham Airfield in Suffolk.

They will form part of Nato's enhanced forward presence (eFP), which was established to deter potential aggression from the Kremlin, during their three-month deployment.

Mr Williamson, speaking at the airfield, said: "It's a very credible threat that we see from Russia and part of the reason that we're deploying five Apache attack helicopters is making sure that we're constantly adapting to a changing situation, but this is about deterrents.

Comment: 'enhanced forward presence (eFP)' is newspeak for surrounding and aggression towards Russia. Thankfully for the citizens of Europe, Russia isn't biting:

Huawei's top security officer blasts US campaign against company: 'America, face the competition!'

RT
Wed, 17 Apr 2019 10:09 UTC

Washington's animosity towards Chinese tech giant Huawei is based on deep-rooted prejudice, while its crusade against the company is motivated by greed rather than security concerns, the firm's chief security officer said.

The persistent scaremongering campaign by the US targeting the Chinese company, which is one of the pioneers in 5G technology development, appears to have got under the skin of one of its top executives, who hit back in an explosive rant

John Suffolk, Huawei's chief security officer and the former British government's chief IT adviser, apparently got tired of US officials making allegations -while not providing any proof- that Huawei's 5G mobile communication technologies pose a cyber-security threat.

Comment: Also see:

Turkish ruling party files appeal against Istanbul election results

Sputnik
Wed, 17 Apr 2019 10:08 UTC

Turkey Istanbul Justice and Development Party Erdogan election

Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) filed on Tuesday an appeal with the Supreme Election Council against the results of the recent mayoral election in the country's biggest city of Istanbul, the Anadolu news agency reported.

"We have suspicions [about Istanbul's elections] and we still were not able to resolve these doubts," AKP deputy head Ali Ihsan Yavuz said, as quoted by the news agency.

This comes after earlier in the day, the move was announced by Yavuz, who explained the need to appeal against the results of the mayoral election by alleged multiple violations of voting procedures.

Britain tries to confront Russia but Germany is being sensible

Brian Cloughly
Strategic Culture
Tue, 16 Apr 2019 14:00 UTC

As Britain staggers from crisis to crisis, with the Brexit debacle rending the country apart, with its prisons in a "disgraceful" state, a knife crime epidemic, and the doctors of its Health Service at "breaking point" it might be imagined that the government would avoid playing futile military games and concentrate on trying to run the country. But national crises don't matter to the would-be big-spenders of the UK's Ministry of Defence whose titular head Gavin Williamson, the paintball strategist, announced on April 3 that Britain would "spearhead" a 'Joint Expeditionary Force' in a military mission called 'Baltic Protector'. The anti-Russia manoeuvres are to involve 2,000 military personnel from the UK and a further thousand from Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. (It is notable that Sweden and Finland are supposed to be neutral nations.)

Williamson demonstrates his ineptitude all too frequently, and recently confirmed his confused mental state by stating that "As Britain prepares to leave the EU, our unwavering commitment to European security and stability is more important than ever. Deploying our world class sailors and marines to the Baltic Sea, alongside our international allies, firmly underlines Britain's leading role in Europe." (It is intriguing that he considers Sweden and Finland to be allies of the UK.)

Comment: The power brokers in Germany (as in many other countries) likely realize that their future lies in partnership with the East:

Russian FM: US failed its blitzkrieg on Venezuela

Paul Antonopoulos
FRN III
Sun, 14 Apr 2019 00:00 UTC

The US failed to conduct a blitzkrieg on Venezuela, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

Now the crisis in Venezuela is on the agenda, the Russian foreign minister said during his speech at the session of the Council for Foreign Policy and Defense Russia, adding that the "American's openly interfere in the internal affairs of sovereign states."

"The blitzkrieg was not successful [for the US], but the Americans do not give up the goal of overthrowing the government of the legitimate president [of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro]."

At the same time, the diplomat said that the political course of Washington in relation to several countries in Latin America is unacceptable.

Comment: See also:

IRGC Major General Soleimani's Instagram page blocked after US blacklisting

Sputnik
Tue, 16 Apr 2019 00:00 UTC

The development comes a day after the US officially designated Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation.

The Instagram account of Major General Qasem Soleimani from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), who have about 900,000 subscribers, has been blocked.

Soleimani has been at the helm of the IRGC's Quds Force - a division mainly responsible for extraterritorial military and clandestine operations - since 1998.

Comment: See also:

"Journalistic freedoms may be under threat": John Oliver slams US media for disgraceful Assange coverage

RT
Mon, 15 Apr 2019 21:47 UTC

Late night TV host John Oliver is not the greatest friend to WikiLeaks, but the comedian broke ranks with the mainstream press and took to the air with a ringing defense of the organization's founder, Julian Assange.

During his HBO show Last Week Tonight on Sunday, Oliver slammed CNN's coverage of the arrest, which opted to focus on Assange's facial hair more than what the it could mean for press freedoms around the world.

"Yes, his arrest sparks a difficult debate about the efficacy of journalistic protections in the age of cyber espionage, but look how bad he looks!" Oliver said, mocking the coverage. "He looks like a peeled potato rolled in spider webs!"

Comment: See also:

Italy's UniCredit to pay $1.3 billion to settle US sanctions probe

Karen Freifeld
Reuters
Tue, 16 Apr 2019 21:48 UTC

Italy's top bank UniCredit SpA and two subsidiaries have agreed to pay $1.3 billion to U.S. authorities to settle probes of violations of U.S. sanctions on Iran and other countries, U.S. authorities said on Monday.

In addition, UniCredit Bank AG, the bank's German unit, agreed to plead guilty to federal and New York state criminal charges for illegally moving hundreds of millions of dollars through the U.S. financial system on behalf of sanctioned entities, the U.S. Department of Justice and Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said.

The resolution ends a six-year investigation that has hung over the bank and follows last week's $1.1 billion settlement by London-based Standard Chartered Plc with U.S. and British authorities over similar conduct.

Comment: Evidently US sanctions not only don't work - and are based on lies - but many banks chose to evade them, and were still able to make a profit:

Brexit ruckus: Jacob Rees-Mogg responds to Remainer David Lammy's 'nazi' remark

LBC Radio
Mon, 15 Apr 2019 20:16 UTC

Jacob Rees-Mogg revealed that he feels sorry for the Labour MP, after David Lammy's comment that comparing Brexiteers and Nazis was "not strong enough".

David Lammy has defended comparing some Tory Brexiteers to Nazis. The Labour MP for Tottenham and campaigner for a second Brexit referendum hit out at members of the European Research Group.

Speaking on the Andrew Marr show on Sunday Mr Lammy said that his previous comparison between Brexiteers and Nazis was "not strong enough."

The EU adjusts its copyright rules towards a 'true digital single market'

Council of the European Union
Mon, 15 Apr 2019 19:42 UTC

The EU is amending its legal framework on copyright to make it fit-for-purpose in today's digital environment. The Council today adopted a directive that modernises existing EU copyright law to pave the way towards a true digital single market. The new rules ensure adequate protection for authors and artists, while opening up new possibilities for accessing and sharing copyright-protected content online throughout the European Union.

I am very glad that we have achieved a balanced text, creating multiple opportunities for Europe's creative sectors, which will thrive and better reflect our cultural diversity and other European common values, but also for the users, whose freedom of expression on internet will be consolidated. This is a milestone for the development of a robust and well-functioning digital single market.

Valer Daniel Breaz, Romanian Minister for Culture and National Identity

The directive addresses a variety of issues, which can be grouped together under three categories:

Comment: More on the copyright directive:

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HashAttack2

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Rowan Cocoan

Puppet Masters

UK sends Apache helicopters 'close to Russia's border' for "deterrent" training exercises in Estonia

Huawei's top security officer blasts US campaign against company: 'America, face the competition!'

Turkish ruling party files appeal against Istanbul election results

Britain tries to confront Russia but Germany is being sensible

Russian FM: US failed its blitzkrieg on Venezuela

IRGC Major General Soleimani's Instagram page blocked after US blacklisting

"Journalistic freedoms may be under threat": John Oliver slams US media for disgraceful Assange coverage

Italy's UniCredit to pay $1.3 billion to settle US sanctions probe

Brexit ruckus: Jacob Rees-Mogg responds to Remainer David Lammy's 'nazi' remark

The EU adjusts its copyright rules towards a 'true digital single market'

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