Puppet Masters
The host of an opinion show on Georgia's opposition Rustavi 2 TV broadcaster began his Sunday program by addressing Putin in Russian. For nearly a minute, Georgiy Gabuniya used expletives in Russian, including making foul references to Putin's late parents, before finally expressing his desire to "sh*t on [Putin's] grave." In the tirade, Gabuniya referred to Putin as an "invader," and to Russians as "slaves."
The expletive-drenched diatribe used nearly every curse word in Russian, in which even the F-word seemed moderate compared to the more vulgar phrases he employed.
Despite the two countries' enmity, the stunt wasn't taken well in either Russia or Georgia, where a crowd of agitated protesters flocked to the channel's Tbilisi headquarters, chanting slogans and demanding the host be fired. The station was soon forced to go off-air, citing security concerns. It resumed broadcasting on Monday morning.
"The State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to TECRO for the M1A2T Abrams Tanks and related equipment and support Stinger missiles and related equipment and support for an estimated cost of $2 billion," the Pentagon announced on Monday.
The purchase, which still needs to be approved by Congress, includes 108 units of M1A2T Abrams Tanks, which Taipei plans to use against China if it tries to reclaim sovereignty over the island. The Pentagon maintains that the sale will not influence the "basic military balance" in the region and will merely "enhance" Taiwan's ability "to meet current and future regional threats and to strengthen its homeland defense."

A man carrying a box leaves a Deutsche Bank office in London, Britain July 8, 2019.
Deutsche Bank laid off staff Monday as it began cutting 18,000 jobs as part of an $8.3 billion "reinvention."
In a retreat from a long-held ambition to make its struggling investment bank, which employs 38,000 people, a force on Wall Street, Deutsche Bank said on Sunday it would scrap its global equities operations and cut some in fixed income.
Shares in Deutsche Bank, which has almost 91,500 staff around the world, were slightly lower in Frankfurt as the bank's finance chief said there was "significant uncertainty" whether it would break even in 2020.
Comment: Investor Jim Rogers comments on RT that this cull is just one of many signs the system is in serious trouble:
When traditionally stable institutions like Deutsche Bank find themselves in trouble, it's a signal that the world's financial system will face big problems down the road, legendary investor Jim Rogers has told RT.The corrupt banking system wasn't reformed following the 2008 crash, governments simply stole public wealth to bail them out and the two carried on as usual while the working man suffered, what we're seeing now are the fruits of that deception, and the fall out from the next crash will likely be catastrophic:
The move has already impacted the bank's shares, which started to fall after initial 4 percent gains on Monday.
"The financial system is in trouble and this is just one sign of what is going on. This has happened in previous financial problems in the 1930s or the 1960s or the 1990s," Rogers said in a phone interview with RT. He explained that central banks around the globe drove interest rates "to crazy levels," and now we have to pay the price for that.
This led to what "we think is a stable and sound [bank] start making speculative loans... and then what used to be strong banks get in trouble."
Deutsche Bank's major overhaul does not mean it will not survive, according to Rogers. However, the bank will never be the same and "this is serious trouble" for the lender as well as the entire financial system, the investor believes.
Rogers offered a reminder that some stable banks went bust when nobody expected it, as was the case with Lehman Brothers in 2008 or with another old bank, British Northern Rock.
"And it is happening again. If you go to Scandinavia you see some of those banks that have been around for years are in trouble now. This is nothing more than a sign of the times and we're going to have a lot of problems down the road," the investor said.
However, according to Rogers, Deutsche Bank is unlikely to collapse due to multiple warnings and enormous government efforts to support it. Rogers went on to explain that collapses occur unexpectedly and it's when the global markets can crash.
"If Deutsche Bank were to collapse it would be a surprise. It would cause the global market to start to decline," he said, adding that it would create a "snowball" that would see other major banks follow the same path.
- Banks used tax schemes to steal €55 billion from Europe's treasuries - And they're still at it
- Banking giants ANZ, Deutsche Bank and Citigroup to be prosecuted by Australia for running "criminal cartel"
- Deutsche Bank, HSBC & Citigroup get 'slap on the wrist' in Libor rigging case
- Whistleblower exposes biggest money laundering scandal in European history involving Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan and Danske Bank
- Corrupt central banks 'printing money every time they make a mistake' - RT's Keiser Report
- Fraud, deception, laundering - Bailed out banks still behaving badly and no one's stopping them
NewsOne and Russia's most-watched broadcaster Rossiya 1, were eagerly anticipating their co-hosted television show called 'We need to talk.' Scheduled to go on air on July 12, it was meant to give a voice to people from each country without having to touch upon divisive political issues.
However, on Monday NewsOne said it had to cancel its participation in the joint project on the back of a tremendous smear campaign that "a number of political parties" had launched ahead of the show. There have been rallies outside the channel's premises as well as "unambiguous death threats against our journalists and their close relatives," it said.
Comment: The dark forces that run Ukraine aren't in the business of reconciliation or fair reporting:
- From joker to peacemaker? Zelensky needs to follow his words with actions to end Ukraine's conflict
- Far-right protesting military corruption clash with police in Ukraine, 'You have 7 days!' - UPDATE
- 'Censorship unacceptable in Europe': Austrian FM condemns Ukraine's journalist ban
- Another Russian journalist has been murdered in Ukraine
Trump's ongoing war with the media has been well-documented, but Fox News, which Trump's detractors describe as his mouthpiece, has been spared his wrath - until now.
In a series of posts, Trump said that watching "terrible" Fox News daytime weekend anchors is worse than watching "low ratings Fake News CNN." He also bashed Fox for hiring former Democratic National Committee (DNC) chairwoman Donna Brazile, and for referring to the New York Times as a news source.
In fact, the outrage caused by the views of Britain's man in Washington being publicly aired underlines what most of us know - that honesty has absolutely no place in international relations.
Sir Kim Darroch called Trump, among other things, "incompetent," "inept," and "clumsy." That all looks pretty rich now that his innermost thoughts on the one man he is supposed to be buttering up have been released for all to see. However it happened, it does seem clumsy and inept. Almost Trumpian, allegedly.
Transcript:
The memory remains remarkably fresh in Iran of the 1951-53 oil embargo that toppled the democratically-elected government of Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh - and the CIA installing the despot Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the so-called Shah of Iran, in his place.
The impact on oil markets of an Iranian closure of the Strait of Hormuz would be enormous.
Strait of Hormuz Closure
The leadership of the Iranian Navy and the Revolutionary Guard Navy, knowing they could never challenge the U.S. in a conventional naval contest, have been accumulating considerable asymmetric and other capabilities to enable the Islamic Republic to close the Strait of Hormuz since the "tanker war" in the Persian Gulf during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War. These capabilities include thousands of sea mines, torpedoes, advanced cruise missiles, regular-sized and mini-submarines, and a flotilla of small fast-attack boats, most of which are concentrated in the strait region.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned Iran of "further isolation and sanctions," following Tehran's move, claiming that an Iran "armed with nuclear weapons, would pose an even greater danger to the world".
According to Tehran, reducing Iran's commitments under the nuclear accord is "in parallel with saving the JCPOA, and not destroying it, this tendency may lead to discontinuing our participation in the JCPOA".
On Wednesday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that on 7 July Tehran will start enriching uranium at levels set out in the JCPOA and would maintain that enrichment at a level it considers necessary.
Comment: See also:
- Iran tells UN it will hike uranium enrichment capacity
- Iran announces it has quadrupled its production of enriched uranium
- Spokesman of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran says Iran may speed up uranium enrichment if Trump re-imposes sanctions
- US State Dept: Additional US sanctions to be imposed on Iran for heavy water, uranium enrichment














Comment: See also: