Puppet Masters

Turkey slams Bolton after he admits US is waging 'economic war' against NATO ally

RT
Thu, 23 Aug 2018 11:53 UTC

Ankara has slammed Donald Trump's national security advisor for boasting that the lira crisis could be stopped "instantly" if Turkey bows to US demands, and has accused Washington of waging an "economic war" against its NATO ally.

Turkey is currently struggling with a severe currency crisis, triggered by escalating US sanctions, which Washington ordered in retaliation for the detention of Evangelical Pastor Andrew Brunson, who is accused of taking part in a failed 2016 coup. On Tuesday, Bolton noted that the freefall of the lira could end instantly if Turkey was to release the US citizen who is facing 35 years in a Turkish prison.

"Look, the Turkish government made a big mistake in not releasing Pastor Brunson," Bolton told Reuters in an interview during a visit to Israel. "Every day that goes by that mistake continues, this crisis could be over instantly if they did the right thing as a NATO ally, part of the West, and release pastor Brunson without condition."

Comment: Also see:

Democratically elected or not, if your government is at odds with the US empire it's a 'regime'

Gregory Shupak
FAIR
Mon, 20 Aug 2018 09:28 UTC

In the aftermath of the assassination attempt against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, an article in the Miami Herald (8/5/18) reported that "a clandestine group formed by Venezuelan military members opposed to the regime of Nicolás Maduro claimed responsibility." A New York Times op-ed (8/10/18) mused, "No one knows whether the Maduro regime will last decades or days." AFP (8/12/18) reported that "Trump has harshly criticized Maduro's leftist regime."

The word "regime" implies that the government to which the label is applied is undemocratic, even tyrannical, so it's peculiar that the term is used in Venezuela's case, since the country's leftist government has repeatedly won free and fair elections (London Review of Books, 6/29/17). One could argue that, strictly speaking, "regime" can simply mean a system, and in some specific, infrequent contexts, that may be how it's used. But broadly the word "regime" suggests a government that is unrepresentative, repressive, corrupt, aggressive-without the need to offer any evidence of these traits.

Interestingly, the US itself meets many of the criteria for being a "regime": It can be seen as an oligarchy rather than a democracy, imprisons people at a higher rate than any other country, has grotesque levels of inequality and bombs another country every 12 minutes. Yet there's no widespread tendency for the corporate media to describe the US state as a "regime."

Comment: See also:

Putin goes to a wedding and, in passing, solves Europe's problems

Rostislav Ishchenko
Stalker Zone
Wed, 22 Aug 2018 12:00 UTC

Translated by Ollie Richardson & Angelina Siard. Originally published in Russian here: ukraina.ru

Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin wasn't the first Russian poet. Before him there was Zhukovsky, Derzhavin, and even Lomonosov. Beautiful, melodious verses were composed by many also after Pushkin. Nevertheless, he is "our everything". Without him, without Pushkin's language, not just Russian poetry, but the Russian language itself is incomplete...

Pushkin is exact and extremely laconic. He knows how to pack many meanings into only a few words. And he doesn't use excess words. Do you remember: "Up there a prince in passing captures a fearsome tsar". Just one word - "in passing" [two words in English - ed]. But how it characterises both people and process! Solving more important problems, in between times, a certain prince at the same time captured a fearsome (i.e., mighty, strong, dangerous) tsar (and it means he conquered him, his army, and his state).

Comment: For more, check out: Pepe Escobar: Exclusive, mega important Germany against the US dollar update

See also:

And check out SOTT radio's: Behind the Headlines: Trump Ditches Europe, Europe Bluffs, Russia and China Carry on With Eurasian Integration

Russian military shoots down three drones, came from terrorist held zone in Idlib

TASS
Thu, 23 Aug 2018 09:45 UTC

Military of the Syrian Armed Forces spotted three combat drones approaching positions of the government troops on the western outskirts of the settlement of Abu Dali

Three UAVs launched from the territory controlled by militants were destroyed on Tuesday in the south of Syria's Idlib province, the head of the Russian Center for Reconciliation of the Warring Parties, Major General Alexei Tsygankov, said on Wednesday.

"On August 21, military of the Syrian Armed Forces spotted three combat drones approaching positions of the government troops on the western outskirts of the settlement of Abu Dali in the south of Idlib province, from the side of the territories controlled by illegal armed units," he said.

White Helmets coordinating with al-Nusra to stage chemical attack in Idlib, aiming to accuse Syrian army

Hazem Sabbagh
Syrian Arab News Agency
Thu, 23 Aug 2018 09:30 UTC

The so-called White Helmets are coordinating with terrorist groups, particularly Jabhat al-Nusra terror organization, to stage a chemical attack in Idleb province and accuse the Syrian Arab Army of using chemical weapons.

Media reports say that the past few days have witnessed an unusual activity by the White Helmets members as information is being reported about terrorists preparing to carry out a chemical attack in the areas between Jisr al-Shughour and the northeastern countryside of Lattakia province with the aim of accusing the army of this attack.

Sources from Idleb told Russia's Sputnik news agency that White Helmets members used 8 vans to transport a shipment of barrels from Atma factory near the Turkish borders which specializes in recycling chlorine, moving from Idleb's northern countryside through Ariha until they reached Jisr al-Shughour area, all under heavy protection formal-Nusra terrorists, all while calls have been made to "reserve members" of the White Helmets in several areas instructing them to report for work.

Comment: See also:

Lavrov says all uninvited foreign forces must leave Syria

Leith Aboufadel
Al Masdar News
Thu, 23 Aug 2018 09:15 UTC

Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov responded to U.S. defense official John Bolton's threats against the Syrian government by demanding all uninvited foreign forces leave Syria.

"All foreign forces staying there without an invitation from the Syrian government must be eventually withdrawn," Lavrov told reporters, as quoted by Tass News Agency.

Earlier in the day, Bolton threatened to strike the Syrian government forces if any attack with chemical weapons is conducted by the latter in the Idlib Governorate.

Comment: See also: Western powers' warning to Syria: Do not use chemical weapons again

Pepe Escobar: Exclusive, mega important Germany against the US dollar update

Pepe Escobar
FaceBook
Thu, 23 Aug 2018 01:48 UTC

Well, I'm getting deeper into it - and in fact this is practically a breaking story, so I prefer not to wait and you have it here first hand while it's evening in Europe and early afternoon in the US.

Let's start with a very well informed source, a top German financier in Switzerland, commenting on German FM Maas floating the idea of an EU - or global - payment system bypassing the US (Here's the Reuters story.)

By the way, were it to be global, that's exactly what Russia-China and the BRICS have been discussing for years.

According to the source, "too many European (and Swiss) financial institutions (and regulators) are run by Americans or ardent fans of the U.S. Plus, they are extremely afraid of the American rhetoric of locking them out of Wall St. if they misbehave."

George Galloway: Brexit now holds Britain's elite establishment in a headlock

George Galloway
RT
Tue, 21 Aug 2018 18:02 UTC

Brexit brew hasn't stopped simmering and will flavour British politics for many years to come.

The defeat for the British establishment in the Brexit referendum was as unexpected (by them) as it was momentous. A rag-bag army of Brexit campaigners with a distinctly unusual Officer class triumphed over the sleek Rolls Royce Brigade of Guards commanded by the entire spectrum of the great and the good.

I was one of the rag-bag army, but more as a guerrilla fighter, often behind enemy lines. I had to be allowed freedom of action because nobody expected me to take orders from the likes of Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and Liam Fox - and though in touch throughout with the likes of Nigel Farage and his group, we each knew we were better not together. Our view of a post-Brexit Britain was just too different.

All the living ex-Prime Ministers posing for the Remain side photographers was the moment I knew we would win. With a remarkable lack of self-awareness, the British ruling class didn't realise that the referendum was as much about them as it was about the EU. Or that the people hated the political class with a vengeance, and that revenge was at hand.

Meet Britain's very stupid and dangerous new foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt

Finian Cunningham
Information Clearinghouse
Wed, 22 Aug 2018 00:00 UTC

Jeremy Hunt

Britain's top diplomat Jeremy Hunt is in the United States this week calling for brutal sanctions on Russia - and, what's more, he is also urging the European Union to join in the campaign to antagonize Moscow.

Hunt's surname is an apt example of how humorous London Cockney rhyming-slang works. In his case, a vulgar word is invoked by his surname to express a person encumbered by low intelligence.

Does Jeremy Hunt feel comfortable about trying to start World War III by pushing the Americans to ratchet up already provocative sanctions on Russia?

The British foreign secretary - who took over from Boris Johnson, another "stupid Hunt" - is urging Washington to get even tougher on Russia based on all sorts of outlandish allegations of Moscow's "malign activity".

US-Turkey crisis: NATO alliance forged in 1949 is today largely irrelevant

Philip Giraldi
American Herald Tribune
Mon, 13 Aug 2018 00:00 UTC

There has been some reporting in the United States mass media about the deteriorating relationship between Washington and Ankara and what it might mean. Such a falling out between NATO members has not been seen since France left the alliance in 1966 and observers note that the hostility emanating from both sides suggests that far worse is to come as neither party appears prepared to moderate its current position while diplomatic exchanges have been half-hearted and designed to lead nowhere.

The immediate cause of the breakdown is ostensibly President Donald Trump's demand that an American Protestant minister who has lived in Turkey for twenty-three years be released from detention. Andrew Brunson was arrested 21 months ago and charged with being a supporter of the alleged conspiracy behind the military coup in 2016 that sought to kill or replace President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Erdogan has asserted that the coup was directed by former political associate Fetullah Gulen, who lives in exile in Pennsylvania, but has produced little credible evidence to support that claim. In the aftermath of the coup attempt, Erdogan has had himself voted extraordinary special powers to maintain public order and has arrested 160,000 people, including 20 Americans, who have been imprisoned. More than 170,000 civil servants, teachers, and military personnel have lost their jobs, the judiciary has been hobbled, and senior army officers have been replaced by loyalists.

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Puppet Masters

Turkey slams Bolton after he admits US is waging 'economic war' against NATO ally

Democratically elected or not, if your government is at odds with the US empire it's a 'regime'

Putin goes to a wedding and, in passing, solves Europe's problems

Russian military shoots down three drones, came from terrorist held zone in Idlib

White Helmets coordinating with al-Nusra to stage chemical attack in Idlib, aiming to accuse Syrian army

Lavrov says all uninvited foreign forces must leave Syria

Pepe Escobar: Exclusive, mega important Germany against the US dollar update

George Galloway: Brexit now holds Britain's elite establishment in a headlock

Meet Britain's very stupid and dangerous new foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt

US-Turkey crisis: NATO alliance forged in 1949 is today largely irrelevant

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