Puppet Masters

Netanyahu: I offered control of Gaza to many Arab leaders but no takers

Middle East Monitor
Fri, 05 Apr 2019 03:41 UTC

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he offered a number of Arab countries control of the occupied Gaza Strip but "no one wanted to do this".

Speaking in an interview with Israeli national radio Kan, Netanyahu explained that Israel had continued to bomb Gaza as it's "impossible to reach a political settlement with those who want to annihilate the Strip," referring to Hamas, which runs the Strip.

Netanyahu noted that he didn't know whether it would be possible for Israel to reach "a long-term ceasefire". "One thing I do know is that I don't engage in needless wars. I want to use the force that is necessary and I am willing to pay the price, but only when it is necessary," Netanyahu reiterated, adding that he was willing to pay the political price for not going to war.

Israel might embark on "a large-scale military operation" in Gaza, he continued. "The forces are in place, but it's not the first option," he said. "All the options are still on the table, including entering Gaza and occupying it, out of consideration of what is best for Israel," Netanyahu told the radio station. "But that is the last option and not the first."

Comment: What a guy! Generous to a fault. Bibi says he offered the Gaza Strip to any takers without success (a proposition akin to selling a car with the real owners and their kids locked inside). He may not be the best deal-maker, but after 7 decades of frequent and various attempts to 'eliminate' the pesky Gaza problem at the world's largest open-air prison, what more could voters expect?

Nunes to DOJ: 8 criminal referrals for misconduct, leaks, conspiracy during Russia probe, more to follow

Greg Re
Fox News
Sun, 07 Apr 2019 00:00 UTC

House Intelligence Committee ranking member Devin Nunes exclusively told Fox News' Sunday Morning Futures that he is preparing to send eight criminal referrals to the Department of Justice this week concerning alleged misconduct from "Watergate wannabes" during the Trump-Russia investigation, including the leaks of "highly classified material" and conspiracies to lie to Congress and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court.

The dramatic step comes as Republicans have pushed for the release of key documents to uncover the origins of the now-discredited narrative that the Trump campaign colluded improperly with the Russian government. President Trump recently told Fox News he would release the entirety of the FISA applications used to surveil one of his top aides, and other related documents.

Nunes said he has been working on the referrals for more than two years, and wanted to wait until the confirmation of Attorney General Bill Barr.

How Taiwan, BRI impact the geopolitical chessboard

Pepe Escobar
Strategic Culture Foundation
Sat, 06 Apr 2019 00:00 UTC

What remains of Western unity does not represent a vision of the future any more

It's all about the cross-strait median. No, that's not a drink in a Hong Kong bar. It's the de facto maritime border between continental China and Taiwan.

Last Sunday morning, two Chinese J-11 fighters crossed the median and stayed on Taiwanese air space for about 10 minutes - even after Taiwanese interceptors were dispatched.

Tsai Ing-wen, the President of Taiwan, defined the incursion by the PLA Air Force as "reckless and provocative." And, ominously, demanded the "forceful expulsion" of Chinese fighter jets if it ever happened again. Well, that used to happen, quite frequently, but only up to 1999, when Beijing and Taipei clinched a deal to make them stop.

US mainstream media predictably spun this latest incursion as yet another Chinese provocation, omitting the essential background to what is only one more move in an extremely complex - and dangerous - geopolitical chessboard.

Comment: See also:

Zelensky has no intention to delay peacemaking in Donbass

TASS
Sun, 07 Apr 2019 20:12 UTC

Ukraine's presidential contender Vladimir Zelensky will try to reach a ceasefire in Donbass as soon as possible in case of being elected, he said in an interview with the Ukraine TV channel on Sunday. "Ceasefire in the east, for a start. We cannot afford a long process as every morning starts (with reports about) casualties in the east," he said.

Zelensky has also suggested that more active efforts should be made to deal with citizens of the Donbass regions uncontrolled by Kiev - self-proclaimed republics - on social issues, particularly, stressing the need to pay pension benefits. "We have to reach out to each person living in the east, to resume relations, launch, start paying pension benefits to people," he said.

Asked whether he is ready for direct contacts with Russia's leadership, Zelensky answered in the affirmative.

Historian: New bloodbath in Tripoli is outcome of NATO toppling Gaddafi and bombing campaign

RT
Mon, 08 Apr 2019 09:40 UTC

Libya is back in the headlines after one of its two competing governments sent troops towards Tripoli. If another bloodbath happens there, it will be the inevitable result of the 2011 NATO bombing campaign, an expert told RT.

The Northern African country was once stable and quite prosperous thanks to large revenues from oil trade. But since 2011, when NATO supported a militant uprising and helped topple, then kill, longtime strongman leader Muammar Gaddafi, it remains a fractured failed state. Last week, the unending feuds between rival factions escalated, with Khalifa Haftar, a powerful military commander, launching an offensive against his rivals from the UN-recognized government in Tripoli.

The general is unlikely to immediately heed calls for a political settlement, believes US political commentator and historian Gerald Horne. This may escalate into a major battle in the capital.

"You may well expect a bloodbath to unfold in Tripoli. Which is quite tragic and unfortunate, but I'd say it's the inevitable outcome of the ill-advised attack by NATO, led by the US, that resulted in the 2011 overthrow of Gaddafi," he told RT.

Comment: See also:

Comey fears a counter investigation after Mueller's report

Rebecca Morin
Politico
Tue, 02 Apr 2019 02:45 UTC

Former FBI Director James Comey on Tuesday condemned President Donald Trump's calls for a possible investigation into how special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia inquiry started, adding that it creates a troubling precedent.

During an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour, Comey was asked about whether he feared possible counter investigations:

"I don't fear it personally. I fear it as a citizen. Right? Investigate what? Investigate that investigations were conducted? What would be the crime you'd be investigating? So it's a terrible cycle to start."

Several days after Attorney General William Barr released his summary of Mueller's report, Trump and his team have called for investigations into how the probe began. "Hopefully, somebody is going to look at the other side," Trump told reporters late last month. The president's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, has also made similar statements.

Erdogan: Turkey is ready for its new military operation in Syria

Sputnik
Mon, 08 Apr 2019 13:56 UTC

Earlier, the Turkish president warned that Ankara planned to "resolve" the "Syrian issue on the field," rather than the negotiating table, after the 31 March election.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he intends to discuss the possibility of a new Turkish military operation in Syria with Russian President Vladimir Putin during his visit to Moscow on Monday.

"Our preparations at the border are completed. Everything is ready for the operation. We can start it at any moment. I will discuss this and other issues during the visit to Moscow," Erdogan said, speaking to reporters before getting on his plane to fly to the Russian capital.

Erdogan's comments follow his earlier remarks about Turkish preparedness to launch an 'anti-terrorist' operation east of the Euphrates River, and in Syria's Manbij, against the US-backed Syrian Kurdish self-defence forces, whom Ankara classifies as a terrorist group. Erdogan previously said that the military had decided to postpone the operation following a telephone conversation with US President Donald Trump in mid-December, after which Trump made the decision to withdraw US troops from Syria.

Comment: See also:

Bernie Sanders thinks felons should be able to vote in prison

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Sun, 07 Apr 2019 16:30 UTC

During a Saturday town hall meeting in Muscatine, Iowa's West Middle School gymnasium, the independent Senator from Vermont was asked whether imprisoned people should have the right to vote. At present, felons in Maine and Vermont can vote from prison.

"I think that is absolutely the direction we should go," said Sanders, adding "In my state, what we do is separate. You're paying a price, you committed a crime, you're in jail. That's bad."

"But you're still living in American society and you have a right to vote. I believe in that, yes, I do."

Of note, a 2013 paper from UPenn and Stanford researchers notes that "ex-felons who are registered overwhelmingly register as Democrats" in the state of New York.

Maduro: US sabotage on Venezuela's electric system involved Chile and Colombia

Paul Antonopoulos
FRN
Mon, 08 Apr 2019 00:00 UTC

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said on Saturday that cyber attacks against Venezuela's electricity system, had come from U.S. actors through channels in Colombia and Chile.

"The latest report showed new results of virus introduction into Venezuela's electrical systems in the computerized system, which points to another type of attack ... From Chile and Colombia, they carried out attacks supported by the United States government," said Maduro during a demonstration in Caracas.

Addressing the political crisis still prevailing in Venezuela, the president appealed to leaders of the region to support a great national dialogue in the Bolivarian Republic:

"I appeal to the President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, to the President of Uruguay, Dr. Tabaré Vázquez, to the President of Bolivia, Evo Morales, and I appeal to the Prime Ministers and Presidents of the Caribbean, for a great dialogue of peace and understanding."

Maduro added that with the participation of Mexico, Uruguay, Bolivia and Caribbean countries, Venezuela could establish a national dialogue with all political, cultural, economic and social sectors.

In February, the governments of Mexico, Uruguay and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) proposed the Montevideo mechanism to solve the crisis, which provides for four phases: creating conditions for a direct dialogue between the conflicting parties in Venezuela, agreement and implementation of the agreement.

Comment: See also:

'The EU is a nightmare': Salvini campaigns to form a broad nationalist alliance

RT
Mon, 08 Apr 2019 17:05 UTC

© Reuters/Alessandro Garofalo
L to R: Olli Kotro from the Finnish ECR party, Joerg Meuthen from the the German EFDD party, Mateo Salvini from Italy's Lega Nord and Anders Vistisen from the Danish ECR party.

Italy's Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini launched his campaign to build a populist voting block in the EU, kicking off the initiative Monday by hosting a meeting with four like-minded European political parties.

Fresh from discussions with Marine Le Pen of France's National Rally, Salvini is striving to bring together the largest anti-immigration and euroskeptic parties in the EU, believing the alliance "will be a great event for Europe for the next 30 years."

The move reflects the general rise in popularity among sovereignist parties, and has the potential to make serious waves in the EU in the wake of the parliamentary elections in late May.

Expressing a desire to bring about "radical change," Salvini claims to be interested in more than a change in EU leadership and says he wants to build a new Europe.

"We can propose a new Europe because we have never governed (in Brussels). We are working for a new European dream. To many citizens and people today, the EU is a nightmare and not a dream."

Monday's meeting included representatives of Alternative for Germany (AfD), the Danish People's Party, and the Finns Party. Joerg Meuthen of the AfD told reporters that the new alliance would be called the European Alliance for People and Nations, and will initially include at least 10 parties.

She's better off dead. The ones that die quickly are the lucky ones. Cancers, chronic pain and exhaustion? No thanks.

DeliciousTears

Here's what lithium ion batteries also do. [Link] R.C.

Rowan Cocoan

She always looks like she's having a painful bowel movement, and is trying very hard to do it silently.

Eventide

Parzival. [Link] Documentary on who owns everything and the current situation and intention NWO. Good summary.

Joyly

"Obama's job is to lie to a nation of liars". Kiese Laymon "the amerikan liberal wants to preserve the essence of the past--the amerikan...

smertzasmert

Puppet Masters

Netanyahu: I offered control of Gaza to many Arab leaders but no takers

Nunes to DOJ: 8 criminal referrals for misconduct, leaks, conspiracy during Russia probe, more to follow

How Taiwan, BRI impact the geopolitical chessboard

Zelensky has no intention to delay peacemaking in Donbass

Historian: New bloodbath in Tripoli is outcome of NATO toppling Gaddafi and bombing campaign

Comey fears a counter investigation after Mueller's report

Erdogan: Turkey is ready for its new military operation in Syria

Bernie Sanders thinks felons should be able to vote in prison

Maduro: US sabotage on Venezuela's electric system involved Chile and Colombia

'The EU is a nightmare': Salvini campaigns to form a broad nationalist alliance

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