Comment: James Petras' excellent analysis captures an image not only of the 'Financial Troika', but of mainstream western media as a whole. A pathological reality where it's not democracy, the people or the truth that direct matters, but global corporations, the wealthy 'ruling elite' and the financial markets. It's a propaganda war that has been going on for decades, to the point where most are now blind to its influence and effects. SOTT.net has the antidote - The Truth!

• Truth or lies? Critical questions to ask yourself when consuming mainstream media
• US-sponsored human experimentation and mind control increasingly in mainstream media
• Mainstream media's schizophrenic attitude towards 'conspiracy theories
• 'Shocking! Mainstream Media Publishes the Truth: Vote all you want, the secret government won't change

Comment: Xi has a delicate balance to manage here and somehow normalize relations between China and Taiwan.

Comment: There may well have been an explosion that contributed to the crash, but the question is whether the explosion was from a 'natural' or man-made event. In recent days, Western politicians have begun to spread the narrative that a bomb was responsible, which is understandable given that such power brokers are undoubtedly interested in preventing any speculation about a 'natural' cause of the crash. Why?

The relationship between the authorities of a country and the fate of the country and its people vis a vis celestial events - destructive events from the sky - is as old as human societies. The PTB today know this and that is why they want to keep a lid on any speculation about or evidence of the reality of "cosmic catastrophes".

Our 'leaders' would rather have the masses think that they are modifying weather with HAARP or chemtrails - which leaves them in control - than for people to know that what is happening is completely beyond the control of the established authorities. Because, of course, when people see that the cosmos is acting against them, they always blame the authorities!

In ancient times, under such circumstances, the priest king who was clearly not 'ritually pure' would have been sacrificed and a new king put in his place in an effort to appease the gods. Constantine's imposition of Christianity was an act of exactly this sort: there were comets, famines, plague and he was just pushing every button he could think of to try to get things to settle down.

In the case of the crash of the Russian plane over the Sinai, the available evidence is strongly suggestive of one of these 'cosmic events'.

Comment: Imagine, also, that on top of this powder keg of mass migration, lack of humanitarian support, and an instigated racist and xenophobic response that is largely manufactured, that agents of ISIS/terrorism are also planted into the mix. What a perfect recipe for destabilizing the governments of Germany and others in order to shore up US-planned goals towards hegemonic control of Europe's power centers. US and Saudi-created ISIS mercenaries are just hired guns. They get deployed and relocated wherever they happen to be needed to do the Empire's dirty work:

"Ok Headchopper Unit 11, wanna get out of harm's way with Russia dropping bombs on your heads - how would you like to go to Europe for a little while? Go to the Camps in Turkey for a week where you'll receive more detailed instructions. Just lay low for a while, then find a way to join the next stream of refugees into Europe. Make sure you look pathetic and desperate and have a good story about losing your family. In a couple of months we'll locate you and give you instructions for the next operation."

And the reason to do this - straight from the horse's mouth:

The issue, to which we don't have the answers, what will Germany do? So, the real wild card in Europe is that as the United States builds its cordon sanitaire, not in Ukraine, but to the west, and the Russians try to figure out how to leverage the Ukrainians out; we don't know the German position. Germany is in a very peculiar position. Its former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder is on the board of Gazprom. They have a very complex relationship to the Russians. The Germans themselves don't know what to do. They must export, the Russians can't take up the export. On the other hand, if they lose the free trade zone, they need to build something different.

For the United States the primordial fear is Russian capital, Russian technology ... I mean, German technology and German capital, Russian natural resources, Russian manpower, as the only combination that has for centuries scared the hell out of the United States. So how does this play out? Well, the US has already put its cards on the table. It is the line from the Baltics to the Black Sea.

For the Russians, their cards have always been on table. They must have at least a neutral Ukraine, not a pro-Western Ukraine. Belarus is another question. Now, whoever can tell me what the Germans are gonna do, is gonna tell me about the next 20 years of history, but unfortunately the Germans haven't made up their mind, and this is the problem of Germany always. Enormously economically powerful, geopolitically very fragile, and never quite knowing how to reconcile the two. Ever since 1871 this has been the German question, the question of Europe. Think about the German question, because now it's coming up again. That's the next question that we have to address and we don't know how to address it, we don't know what they are going to do.

Comment: Just another classic instance of the U.S. State Department or government representative getting caught up in another shameless lie about Russia's actions and intentions. You'd think by now they'd realize that any journalist worth their salt would catch them in their combustible bullshit, but they just keep churning it out to no end. Its a wonder that the State Department even allows a few real journalists into their press conferences these days; real journalists ask questions and try to verify stuff - they don't sit there recording and regurgitating the war party's line like mindless zombies.

Must read: U.S. scrambling to save face in Syria

And see also:

The delusional conspiracy theories of the State Department

The world according to Time magazine - mouthpiece of the U.S. State Department

Comment: The US is using the banking system to 'punish' countries who don't follow the US' dictates. Could this policy backfire? Deutsche Bank is already having financial troubles:

• Is Deutsche Bank about to go down and take Europe with it?
• Global financial meltdown coming? Clear signs that the great derivatives crisis has now begun

Comment: Saudi Arabia is really having a tough time economically, not to mention internal political uncertainty.

• Bankrupting your allies: US manipulation of oil price bites Saudi Arabia
• IMF warns Saudi Arabia may be bankrupt by 2020
• Bye-bye petrodollar! Saudi Arabia on verge of bankruptcy due to war and rampant corruptionRussia overtakes
• Saudi Arabia as China's biggest oil supplier

Comment: If you've gone to games or watched TV, you've been exposed to these ads. Big American flags, salutes to the troops, even "God Bless America": all one big Pentagon ad. These were carefully staged patriotic displays meant to drum up goodwill and recruiting that weren't publicly disclosed as paid advertisements, at the taxpayer's expense no less. All to generate more cannon fodder for America's illegal wars overseas. It is but a drop in the bucket for the Pentagon, who spend billions on fighting wars overseas and creating enemies to scare the American public, but for the sports teams benefiting it is a lot of money. The least they could do is be upfront that it is a paid advertisement.

Comment: It was pretty obvious that this would happen to the "moderate opposition", so the State Department's admission is a no-brainer. It does highlight the disaster the US has wrought in Syria. What it doesn't tell you is that it was in all likelihood intentional. At least there's Russia to handle the situation.