Puppet MastersS


Bad Guys

Twilight of the Blobs

war of the worlds illustration
© Warwick GobleIllustration from the first edition of H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds (1898)
HG Wells concocted a marvelous trick ending to his classic tale The War of the Worlds (1897). Remember: the colossal Martian tripod "fighting machines" swarm all over the planet zapping cities with "heat rays". . . it looks like all-is-lost . . . but finally the darn things just quit marching, stop zapping, and stand down . . . the alien protoplasms at the controls (surprise ending) turn up dead and rotting inside from the action of our tiny invisible allies: the earth's one-celled, disease-causing bacteria, to which the Martian blob creatures have no immunity!

The Gaian overtones in that story resound today as we Earthlings devise ingenious new methods to wreck terrestrial life, including ourselves. The planet seems to have some teleological drive to save itself, a kind of immune system. Notice: in all the ongoing debates about the wonders and dangers of A-I, and Bitcoin, and suffocating surveillance, nobody ever talks about the sketchy condition of the electric grid that all these worrisome phenomena utterly rely on. In our chatter over Peak Oil, there's little awareness of oil production's utter dependence on steady capital flows. In all the guff about centralized control emitted by Klaus Schwab and his World Economic Forum, there's no mention of the centrifugal forces driving human affairs to re-localization, dis-aggregation of large states, and down-scaling of many activities. In our zeal to become Gods, we miss a lot.

Arrow Up

Macron irresponsibly increases tensions between Europe and Russia

Macron
© jiss.org.ilPresident of France Emmanuel Macron
Macron's statements show that rationality and strategy are not relevant in Western foreign policy.

Apparently, Europe will continue to engage in its anti-Russian crusade, even knowing that the consequences of such irresponsibility could be catastrophic. In a recent statement, French President Emmanuel Macron warned Europeans not to be "cowards" in the face of the supposed "Russian threat". According to him, if Europe remains inert, Russia will become "unstoppable", which is why measures should be taken to dissuade Moscow.

Macron's words were delivered during a visit to the Czech Republic, where the French leader met with local officials to discuss an action plan to increase military support for Ukraine. The Czechs propose a project for the simultaneous purchase of military material in several countries around the world to overcome European difficulties in producing weapons. Thus, it is expected to reach a satisfactory number of equipment to enable Kiev to continue facing the Russians, while the European defense industry recovers from two years of systematic weapons production.

Macron absolutely endorses the Czech project and is willing to take tough measures to pressure Russia militarily. According to him, there is now a war on European soil that could reach the EU countries at any moment, which is why the bloc should come together in a common plan to "stop" Russia. The narrative endorses the myth of the "Russian plan to invade Europe" and legitimizes the upsurge of European military actions - not only to support Ukraine, but to act directly against the Russian Federation, if "necessary".

Piggy Bank

Germany struggling to fund defense budget

Soldiers
© picture alliance
The country will reportedly be unable to reach NATO's military spending target next year...

Germany's current military budget for 2025 is below NATO's defense spending targets, the news outlet Bild reported on Saturday, citing sources within the Defense Ministry. The bloc's members are committed to spending 2% of GDP on defense annually.

Berlin fell short of the defense spending goal in 2022 and 2023 but reportedly plans to hit the target at some point this year. Nevertheless, according to Bild, it appears set to miss again next year. The current defense budget for 2025 stands at €52 billion ($56.9 billion), but these funds will be almost completely eaten up by operating costs such as soldiers' wages, heating barracks, repairing existing weapons, etc., the report notes.

Thus, with only €500 million remaining for investment in new weapons, the Bundeswehr's list of planned projects will be short of funding. Such projects include the stationing of a Bundeswehr brigade in Lithuania and the acquisition of new Tranche 5 Eurofighter combat aircraft, the report notes. According to calculations seen by Bild, the defense budget would need to be hiked by as much as €6 billion for Germany to fund these and other projects and also to reach the NATO spending goal next year.

Umbrella

Pope Francis tells Ukraine to have 'the courage to negotiate' with Russia

Pope
© Screenshot/RumblePope Francis
Pope Francis asserted in a soon-to-be-released interview that Ukraine should have the "courage" to enter into negotiations with Russia to end the war between the two countries before "things get worse."

Ukraine entered its third year of war with Russia on Feb. 24 after mounting a failed counteroffensive and facing the prospect of delayed and diminished Western support. Francis said Ukraine should negotiate as its prospects of winning the war continue to slip away, according to an interview transcript and clip shared with Reuters on Saturday.


Comment: See also:


Bread

The hunger killing Gaza's children has a clear cause that few are willing to name out loud

Palestinian children
© MOHAMMED ABED / AFPPalestinian children collect food at a donation point provided by a charity group in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, on November 30, 2023
Following the February 29 Israeli slaughter of at least 115 starving Palestinians lined up for food aid, there was little or no outrage by the same Western media which would have howled if the perpetrator were Russia or Syria.

According to the Gaza Health Ministry, early morning on Thursday, February 29, Israeli forces opened fire on unarmed Palestinians waiting just southwest of Gaza City for desperately needed food aid. As a result, 115 civilians were killed and over 750 wounded.

Popular US commenter Judge Andrew Napolitano said in a recent interview with award-winning analyst Professor Jeffery Sachs, "Innocent Gaza civilians were lined up to receive flour and water from an aid truck, and more than 100 were slaughtered, mowed down, by Israeli troops. This has got to be one of the most reprehensible and public slaughterings that they've engaged in."

The official Israeli version of events, unsurprisingly, puts the blame on the Palestinians themselves. The deaths and injuries were supposedly caused by a stampede, and the Israeli soldiers only fired when they felt they were endangered by the crowd. The BBC even cited one army lieutenant as saying that troops had "cautiously [tried] to disperse the mob with a few warning shots." Mark Regev, a special adviser to the Israeli prime minister, went as far as to tell CNN that Israeli troops had not been involved directly in any way and that the gunfire had come from "Palestinian armed groups."

Testimonies from survivors and doctors tell a different story, though, saying the majority of those treated after the incident had been shot by Israeli forces. Legacy media reports, however, use characteristically neutral wording when evidence starts to stack up against Israel. "112 dead in chaotic scenes as Israeli troops open fire near aid trucks, say Gaza officials," a Guardian headline reads. Palestinians always seem to just "die," not get killed, and Israeli troops seem to have just "opened fire" nearby. The skewed wording conventions persist even despite the attribution to Palestinian officials present in that same headline - officials like the Palestinian Foreign Ministry, which was quite clear in accusing Israel of perpetrating a "massacre" as part of a "genocidal war."

Cult

Best of the Web: Pathocracy: Belgian opposition politician JAILED for 'racist memes', barred from running for office

Dries Van Langenhove
Dries Van Langenhove
Dries Van Langenhove, the founder of the far-right movement Schild & Vrienden, has been sentenced to a one-year effective prison term for violations of the racism and negationism law.

The Ghent correctional court announced its sentence for Van Langenhove, a former MP for the Flemish far-right party Vlaams Belang, on Tuesday.


Comment: That's Belgium's leading opposition party, by the way.


He has been given up to one year of effective imprisonment for violations of the racism and negationism law, including denying the Holocaust.

He also has to pay a €16,000 fine and loses ten years of his civil rights, taking away his right to vote, but also the right to be elected or hold public office. He was also handed down ten months of suspended imprisonment for violations of the weapons law. Van Langenhove was again not present at the hearing.

The final sentence is more lenient than what was initially requested by the prosecution (a two-year prison sentence and a fine of €24,000). However, the Ghent court judge used strong language in the sentencing, stating that the accused was "an instigator of racism and negationism."

Comment:


The memes that landed him fines and prison time.


MIB

French state services hit by cyberattacks of 'unprecedented intensity'

france cyberattack hacker
Cyberattacks of "unprecedented intensity" have targeted several French government institutions just months before the Paris Olympics but have been contained, the prime minister's office said Monday.
The latest cyberattack to hit France follows a warning from Attal's defence adviser just last week that the Olympics games in July and European Parliament elections in June could be "significant targets".


Comment: Interesting timing.


Prime Minister Gabriel Attal's office said several state bodies were targeted but did not provide details.

"Many ministerial services were targeted" from Sunday "using familiar technical means but of unprecedented intensity," Attal's office said.

A security source told AFP that the attacks "are not currently attributable to Russia," an obvious suspect for many given Paris' support for Kyiv since the invasion of Ukraine.


Comment: It's not an 'obvious suspect' because the Russian state doesn't have a history of attacks of this kind, nor is it likely to confer any benefit to Moscow.


Comment: Considering the political and social unrest in France, this is certainly notable. With regards to just who was responsible: there are other state actors, notorious for their cyberwarfare; establishment groups such as the WEF have been warning of a time when a 'cyber pandemic' would wreak havoc on government and business systems; and the attack itself seemingly confirms France's claim that it is a target for cyberattacks:


Gingerbread

Best of the Web: Macron fires back for first time at claims wife, 70, was born a man

brigitte macron
French President Emmanuel Macron has angrily hit back at longstanding conspiracy theories that his 70-year-old wife Brigitte was born a man and is transgender, calling them "false and fabricated."

Macron, 46, was unusually candid and emotional about the ongoing speculation in certain right-wing circles about Brigitte Macron, whom he married in 2007.

"The worst thing is the false information and fabricated scenarios," Macron said at an International Women's Day event in Paris Friday after he guaranteed the right to abortion in France's Constitution.

"People eventually believe them and disturb you, even in your intimacy."

Brigitte's lookalike daughter, attorney Tiphaine Auzaine, 40, who rarely gives interviews, also addressed the painful rumors in an interview late last month in Paris Match.

Comment: Here's the complete original research into Brigitte Macron's murky background:

From Jean-Michel to Brigitte Trogneux, Lies at The Elysée


War Whore

CIA's chief warmonger: Not giving billions of dollars to Kiev would be 'historic mistake'

William Burns
Allocating more aid could enable Ukraine to launch a new counteroffensive next year, William Burns told the US Senate

The US is standing at "a profoundly important crossroads" in terms of whether to continue funding Ukraine's war effort against Russia, according to CIA Director William Burns.

With a White House request to appropriate over $60 billion in additional aid for Kiev stalling in the US House, events can go down two paths, the intelligence chief told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on Monday.

In one scenario, lawmakers could release the money and allow for the "real possibility of cementing a strategic success for Ukraine and a strategic loss for" Russia, he claimed, citing a CIA assessment.

"With supplemental assistance, Ukraine can hold its own on the front lines through 2024," Burns said. The money would allow Kiev to conduct more "deep penetration strikes in Crimea," and continue targeting the Russian Black Sea fleet. In early 2025, it "could regain the offensive initiative" and start regaining ground.


Comment: The CIA has been deeply involved in the conflict in Ukraine including the coup in 2014, so it is not surprising that they wish to continue their pet project.
CIA spills the beans about deep involvement in Ukraine: Part of ploy to undercut Republican congressional opposition to war


Comment: The US has made it clear that they wanted to make Russia weaker. Is it in the interest of the US tax payers to pump still more money into Ukraine, which isn't even a NATO country? Will it help make America great again?

Since the conflict started, the West has pumped hundreds of billions of dollars/euros into Ukraine and and an endless supply of Wunderwaffen. It has done its outmost to cripple the Russian economy and isolate it. 2 years later and Russia is in a much stronger position economically and militarily, having learned some very valuable though hard lessons on the way which means that the army is battle trained and the military industry is getting up to speed to produce an endless amount of top notch weapons for a long fight if needed. Ukraine is currently militarily beaten and demoralised while NATO has significantly emptied its warehouses of weapons.

Given those facts does any thinking person really think that $60 billion more in aid is going to make any significant change to the battle situation? But a racket it is!

See also:


Mr. Potato

Sweden wants no permanent NATO bases on its territory, says foreign minister

Tobias Billstrom Selen Valente sweden foreign minister
'In peace time, we don't see any reason to have nuclear weapons on our territory,' says Tobias Billstrom Selen Valente
Sweden's Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom on Tuesday said the nation is against the establishment of permanent NATO bases and the deployment of nuclear arms on its territory.

Billstrom spoke to Anadolu after the flag ceremony held at NATO headquarters in Brussels on the occasion of Sweden joining the alliance as its 32nd member.

Noting that his country participated in joint operations with NATO prior to its membership, Billstrom said:

Comment: Unfortunately, that's not quite how NATO vassal status works; one doesn't get the 'benefits' without the suicidal burden. Also, in case the FM hadn't noticed, we're hardly in 'peace times', because the West's numerous war fronts could essentially be considered a world war in its relatively early stages: