© ABC News
President Donald Trump • Senators Cornyn and Feinstein
President Donald Trump • Senators Cornyn and Feinstein
Puppet Masters
© screenshot
The Guardian's coverage ("Putin threatens US arms race with new missiles declaration") shows us their masters see this as just another chance to cast Russia as a dangerous rogue state. The Times [the British daily] takes a similar line ("Putin unveils his super weapons to defy the West"). Elsewhere Putin's speech is not only misinterpreted it's also relegated to sidebars in favour of photos of snow (Telegraph), or dropped into the tiny print at the bottom of the page (New York Times).
The western press has basically opted out of analysing this, so let's do it for them. Why is Putin talking about the new generation of weapons? What does he hope to achieve?
First and foremost what Putin's speech - just as all his previous warnings - is ultimately intended to do is avert a pending worldwide catastrophe. The US political class is too fluoridated, too driven by ideologues, too crazy to understand MAD any more. And its current policy, in concert with the EU and NATO, is one of continued unremitting provocation toward Russia, presented through the subservient and frankly stupid corporate media as "responding" to Russian "aggression".
In his speech Putin revealed the existence of new Russian nuclear weapons that make it indisputably clear that Russia has vast nuclear superiority over the United States and its pathetic NATO vassal states.
In view of the Russian capabilities, it is not clear that the US any longer qualifies as a superpower.
There is little doubt in my mind that if the crazed neoconservatives and military/security complex in Washington had these weapons and Russia did not, Washington would launch an attack on Russia.
Putin, however, declared that Russia has no territorial ambitions, no hegemonic ambitions, and no intention to attack any other country. Putin described the weapons as the necessary response to the West's firm refusal year after year to accept peace and cooperation with Russia, instead surrounding Russia with military bases and ABM systems.
© FILE PHOTO: Mandel Ngan / AFP
US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert
US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert
Nauert went on an ill-mannered tirade against the Russian media when she responded to a question from Rossya 1 TV journalist Aleksandr Khristenko during a policy briefing on Thursday. Khristenko asked about the prospects of the US and Russia cooperating on nuclear non-proliferation in light of Russian President Vladimir Putin's remarks during the state-of-the-nation address on Thursday.
In the address, Putin unveiled the newest additions to Russia's nuclear deterrents, including the next-generation Sarmat ICBM that is capable of attacking across the South and North Pole as well as the yet-unnamed nuclear cruise missiles. The speech incorporated videos, which showed missile test launches and a simulation of their trajectory to demonstrate the nearly unlimited range of the ICBMs. The videos did not show the moment of impact or presumable targets of a nuclear-powered strike.
Comment: See how its working now? Everyone - including the press - who dares question anything the US government does now has to think twice about it lest they be accused of "working for RT" or being "an agent of the Kremlin".
© Kevin Lamarque / Reuters
US President Donald Trump
US President Donald Trump
In a letter required under the National Emergencies Act, Trump notified Congress that the White House will continue treating the situation in Ukraine as "an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States," as defined by Obama's Executive Order 13660, dated March 6, 2014.
The US has been gradually expanding the list of people and entities under its Russia sanctions over the years. The latest addition of 21 individuals and nine companies was announced in January 2016.
© Photo: Mark Wallheiser / Getty Images
Hope Hicks on stage with then President-elect Donald Trump during a rally in December, 2016
Hope Hicks on stage with then President-elect Donald Trump during a rally in December, 2016
The big picture: Hope Hicks leaving is obviously a huge blow to him. Every time he reads about Attorney General Jeff Sessions, his head explodes. The staff is just trying to ride out the storm.
© Mandel Ngan / AFP
State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert
State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert
Western public consensus on Syria appears to have shifted dramatically since Aleppo's liberation in December 2016, which drove a stake through the heart of corporate media misdirection and deception on the Syrian 'crisis.' As Syrian civilians haltingly told their tales of misery, imprisonment, execution, rape and murder under terrorist occupation, the corporate media headed for the hills, unwilling to confront the suffering they had effectively prolonged for over four long years.
Now we have a repeat spin cycle in Eastern Ghouta and other eastern suburbs of Damascus that have been occupied by Al-Nusra Front and its affiliates since 2013. Parallels to the distorted propaganda produced in relation to East Aleppo are unmistakable. The usual UN inflation of civilian numbers, the cries of "chemical weapon attacks," the "starvation" of civilians by the Syrian "regime" and of course the "incessant bombing" of hospitals by Syria and Russia, "targeting exclusively civilians," are as rampant in Western media as they were during the Syrian-led military campaign against many of the same terrorist factions in East Aleppo.
READ MORE: 'Truth is the 1st casualty of war': Syria's East Ghouta battleground distorted by MSM propaganda
Western media "hysteria" has reached unprecedented levels, all manner of analogy is being utilized to convey the message of civilians "driven to their knees" under a "brutal onslaught by Syrian armed forces and allies who are hell-bent on slaughtering the Syrian people" - of course nothing could be further from the truth. As in East Aleppo, there is a high probability that many of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) soldiers giving their lives to liberate Eastern Ghouta from the clutches of Al-Nusra Front affiliates have family in those areas. The SAA is the Syrian people, it is an army of conscripts from all walks of Syrian life. It is not some disembodied Assad-loyalist entity, despite what that Western media would have you believe. It is from the people and it is for the people, it is most certainly not deliberately targeting the people who are being used as human shields by the extremist factions.
Comment: The Syrian government has repeatedly denied any accusations of using chemical weapons, insisting that the country "simply" had none in its possession.
Terrorist groups in Syria's Eastern Ghouta are preparing to stage an attack with the use of chemical weapons and then blame it on the Syrian Arab Army, SANA reported, citing an unnamed military source.
According to the source, speaking on condition of anonymity, the leaders of such groups as Tahrir al-Sham (formerly Nusra Front), Faylaq al-Rahman and Ahrar al-Sham have received instructions from the United States, the United Kingdom and its allies to use chemical agents near the front lines with the Syrian army, as well as to target civilians and accuse Damascus of those actions.
READ MORE: US Mulls Holding Russia Accountable for Situation in Eastern Ghouta
On February 26, the Russian Defense Ministry stated that the leaders of the militant groups were preparing provocation with the use of poisonous substances in Eastern Ghouta in order to accuse Damascus of using chemical weapons.
Earlier the same day, the infamous White Helmets, which have repeatedly falsified facts and information, claimed that the Syrian Government had deployed chlorine gas against the town of Al-Shifoniya town in Eastern Ghouta, killing one child and causing "widespread suffocation" among the local populace, the Anadolu Agency reported.
© Novosti
"We've been watching Russia for a long time. We're not surprised," said Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White following Vladimir Putin's state of the nation address. Putin had unveiled a new Russian strategic arsenal that he said was bound to make Washington stop looking down on Moscow. Russia's new deterrent, Putin said, is invulnerable to interception.
"America is moving forward to modernize our nuclear arsenal and make sure our capabilities aren't being matched," White bragged in response.
Comment: Some background
- Putin: U.S. pulling out of ABM treaty pushing world towards new Cold War
- No USSR replay: 'Russia will focus on affordable asymmetric measures' if NATO wants arms race
- Putin Delivers Landmark 'State of The Union' Speech: Puts The Smack Down on US, Shows Off Latest Russian Nuclear Weapons
- Russian lawmakers: Putin's address was not a threat but a call for peace & talks
© Washington Press
Jeff Sessions (L) Donald Trump (C) Devin Nunes (R)
Jeff Sessions (L) Donald Trump (C) Devin Nunes (R)
The FBI and DOJ have trampled on the Constitution
We've watched for months now as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has been exposed as the behemoth of corruption and criminal wrongdoing in America, misusing the tools available at their discretion to harass American citizens and violate their Constitutional rights.
By using the now-infamous Fusion GPS Dossier, which was funded directly by Hillary Clinton's campaign for President and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) as a grounds to submit a FISA warrant application, the FBI essentially branded itself as an arm of the Democratic Party, and that's outright terrifying.
Comment: That Nunes is committed to the investigation and that Flynn was set up is clear. The author however,may be overly optimistic about the prospects for a real investigation, even with facts as glaring as has been recounted. Only time will tell if Sessions is as noble. or Trump as clever, as the author seems to think.
© Yuri Gripas / Reuters
As the House Minority Leader spoke to reporters in Thursday, she repeatedly used the wrong word in sentences, awkwardly correcting herself so she was clear to the journalists.
Speaking about new gun control legislation, she said there is a "commensurate bi-partisan - common sense bi-partisan supp, uh, path forward."
Moments later, she repeated words and mistakenly said "tax force," before enunciating "task force."
Comment: No one wants to support Pelosi as she is clearly losing touch with reality, and not quite all there anymore. See also:
- Apparently drugged-up Nancy Pelosi slurs and repeats words, overrules her own statement (VIDEO)
- More face spasms and brain freezes: Nancy Pelosi flubs her way through denouncing Conyers
- Unraveling of Pelosi, a sad sight
Comment: Information gathering. Trump, again, sussed out the Dems' threshold of support by suggesting an outcome they might agree with (to which he is not obligated to follow through) and in turn, the level of Republican push back.
See also: 'Take the guns first', Trump parts with Republicans over gun-control plan