Puppet MastersS


Whistle

Lukashenko warns: 'Belarus is preparing for a war - even though we don't want it'


Nova.news
Tue, 02 Apr 2024 11:44 UTC
Lukashenko
Belarus is preparing for war, but Minsk he doesn't want to fight. The Belarusian leader declared this, Alexander Lukashenko, as part of his visit to Hrodna. "Don't believe those who say we want to fight. We are preparing for war, I speak frankly about it.

'If you want peace, prepare for war,' I didn't invent that phrase," said lukashenko, quoted by the news agency "beautiful". The head of state added that the country carries out the necessary training of military units, providing troops with various types of weapons and equipment. "If from there (from hostile countries) someone pushes us and criticizes us, know that we are doing the right thing," underlined the Belarusian leader.

Comment: Belarus has every reason to prepare: West has doubled military presence on Belarus, Russia borders since 2020

See also:

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Eye 2

How America's top spymaster sees the world and why it's so disappointing

Tarik Cyril Amar
RT
Sat, 30 Mar 2024 08:05 UTC
CIA Director William Burns
© Mandel NGAN / AFPCIA Director William Burns
The CIA head's vision for the future of America's ongoing confrontation with Russia is depressingly shortsighted.

William J. Burns has published a long piece in Foreign Affairs under the title 'Spycraft and Statecraft. Transforming the CIA for an Age of Competition'. This is an essay likely to be read with great attention, maybe even parsed, not only by an American elite audience, but also abroad, in, say, Moscow, Beijing, and New Delhi, for several reasons. Burns is, of course, the head of the CIA as well as an acknowledged heavyweight of US geopolitics - in the state and deep-state versions.

Few publications rival Foreign Affairs' cachet as a US establishment forum and mouthpiece. While Burns' peg is a plea to appreciate the importance of human intelligence agents, his agenda is much broader: In effect, what he has released is a set of strategic policy recommendations, embedded in a global tour d'horizon. And, last but not least, Burns is, of course, not the sole author. Even if he should have penned every line himself, this is a programmatic declaration from a powerful faction of the American "siloviki," the men (and women) wielding the still gargantuan hard power of the US empire.

Comment: Psychopaths in positions of power often indulge in daydreaming, their fantasies blurring their perception of objective reality. Playing the role of gods, they become disconnected from the truth, leading to shocking outcomes vastly different from their desires.

See also:

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Attention

The Sahel's 'Axis of Resistance'

Pepe Escobar
The Cradle
Mon, 01 Apr 2024 03:52 UTC
The African Sahel is revolting against western neocolonialism - ejecting foreign troops and bases, devising alternative currencies, and challenging the old multinationals. Multipolarity, after all, cannot flower without resistance paving its path.
Sahel
© The Cradle
The emergence of Axes of Resistance in various geographies is an inextricable byproduct of the long and winding process leading us toward a multipolar world. These two things - resistance to the Hegemon and the emergence of multipolarity - are absolutely complementary.

The Axis of Resistance in West Asia - across Arab and Muslim states - now finds as its soul sister the Axis of Resistance spanning the Sahel in Africa, west to east, from Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger to Chad, Sudan, and Eritrea.

Unlike Niger, where the change in power against neocolonialism was associated with a military coup, in Senegal, the power change comes straight from the polls.

Senegal plunged itself into a new era with the landslide victory of Bassirou Diomaye Faye, 44, in nationwide elections on 24 March. A former tax inspector who had just spent a fortnight stint in jail, Faye emerged with the profile of an underdog pan-African leader to turn the 'most stable democracy in Africa,' under French puppet incumbent Macky Sall, upside down.

The incoming Senegalese president now joins Ibrahim Traore, 36, in Burkina Faso, Aby Ahmed, 46, in Ethiopia, Andry Rajoelina, 48, in Madagascar, as well as future superstar Julius Malema, 44, in South Africa as part of the new, young pan-African generation focused on sovereignty. In his election manifesto, Faye pledged to reclaim Senegal's sovereignty no less than eighteen times.

Geoeconomics is key to these shifts. As Senegal becomes a substantial oil and gas producer, Faye will aim to renegotiate mining and energy contracts, including the largest ones with British Petroleum (BP) and UK gold mine operator, Endeavor Mining.

Crucially, he plans to ditch the exploitative CFA franc - the French-controlled currency system used in 14 African states - even setting up a new currency as part of reshaping relations with neocolonial power France, Senegal's top trading partner. Faye, echoing Comrade Xi Jinping, wants a "win-win" partnership.
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Tank

Destruction of American-made M1 Abrams tanks is a sign of Ukrainian desperation

Mike Fredenburg
The Epoch Times
Fri, 29 Mar 2024 23:35 UTC
A US M1 Abrams tank
© SputnikA US M1 Abrams tank.
Thirty-one M1 Abrams tanks were delivered to Ukraine in September/October 2023 only to effectively disappear from the news for about four months. Now with the reported destruction of the fourth M1 Abrams tank in a span of 12 days, they are back in the news. And the fact that they are back in the news is a sign of how desperate things are for Ukraine.

There are a number of plausible reasons that Ukraine did not deploy the Abrams and their freshly trained crews to the frontlines until just recently, and none of them are mutually exclusive.

First, while a properly supported M1 Abrams is very effective, it is highly maintenance intensive and guzzles gas. So before they could be used at all effectively, the proper support infrastructure and logistics needed to be in place. Also, by the time the Abrams could be properly supported by Ukraine, it was facing heavily fortified lines that included tank traps, trenches, tank-killing drones, massed artillery fires, and minefields that have proved devastating to Ukraine's other tanks. And with the failure of Ukraine's counteroffensive, it made sense to keep the gas-hungry and maintenance-intensive Abrams in reserve for defensive operations when Russia inevitably began its own offensive operations.
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Laptop

Feds order YouTube to reveal identities of video viewers

Pieter Arntz
Malwarebytes
Tue, 26 Mar 2024 23:25 UTC
guy on computer
Federal US authorities have asked Google for the names, addresses, telephone numbers, and user activity of accounts that watched certain YouTube videos, according to unsealed court documents Forbes has seen.

Of those users that weren't logged in when they watched those videos between January 1 and 8, 2023, the authorities asked for the IP addresses.

The starting point of one of the investigations is an entity that uses the handle "elonmuskwhm" and is suspected of money laundering by selling Bitcoin for cash. As part of the investigation, agents sent the suspect links to tutorials on YouTube about mapping via drones and augmented reality software.Then they asked YouTube to send them data about the people that watched that video.

But those video tutorials were not private and had been watched over 30,000 times by the time the agents asked YouTube's parent company Google for information about the viewers.

In another case, related to a bomb threat, the authorities asked for information about the viewers of eight selected live streams. One of those live streams has over 130,000 subscribers.
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Light Sabers

Best of the Web: Iran vows 'harsh' response to Israel's assassination of IRGC Commander in airstrike on its Syrian consulate


Atlas
Mon, 01 Apr 2024 17:43 UTC
El canciller iraní, Hosein Amir Abdolahian (izda.), habla con la prensa a su llegada a Beirut, la capital del Líbano, 9 de febrero de 2024.
FILE: Iran's Foreign Minister
The Iranian Ambassador to Syria has stated that Iran's response to the assassination of IRGC Commander Mohammad Reza Zahedi will be "harsh."

What retaliation looks like remains unknown at this time, as Iran could seek to target Israel directly or send more powerful weapons to Hezbollah and the Houthis to carry out attacks.

What is likely to happen, however, is that Iran-backed militias in Iraq and Syria will start to ramp up attacks against American forces in the region.

Comment: As noted in the X post below, these strikes are a violation of international law, and US 'sources' recently acknowledged they would be advantageous. Furthermore, as analysts Almassian, and Beely, write in their posts further below, these strikes in Syria appear to be an attempt by Israel to significantly escalate, and widen, the conflict. One of the strikes against Hezbollah in particular exposes Israel's coordination with the 'Islamicist' terror groups in Syria:
An Opinion Piece on March 27, 2024 in the WSJ, Openly Called for US-Israeli Strikes on Iranian Interests in Lebanon and Syria... "Israel and the U.S. have the tools to strike Iranian military capacity in Syria and Lebanon. This is the operational decisive point of Iran's campaign — not Gaza and Yemen, despite the public focus on Hamas and the Houthis. The U.S. and Israel can rapidly degrade state capacity in Lebanon and Syria, forcing Iran to assume direct control of both territories, or to shrink its defense perimeter to Iraq, thereby essentially abandoning its ability to pressure Israel and the U.S. in the short term."

Kevork Almassian:


IIsrael targeted the Iranian consulate in Damascus❗️

The Israeli attacks killed Abu Mahdi Zahidi, a high-ranking commander of the IRGC, his second-in-command, and three military advisors.

MY TAKE

This marks a significant escalation by Israel towards Iran, specifically targeting the 'axis of resistance'. The strikes targeted a high-ranking IRGC officer who plays a crucial role in Iran's operations in Syria.

Moreover, the attack specifically aimed at the Iranian Consulate, which holds the status of a sovereign Iranian territory. Consequently, Israel's strike can be interpreted as a direct attack on Iran, rather than targeting targets that are "Iranian-linked" or "Iranian-affiliated," as the US and Israel have previously concealed using such terms.

WHAT DOES ISRAEL WANT?

Israel seeks to intensify and expand the scale of the conflict in order to compel direct involvement from the United States. American people need to understand the seriousness of the situation. Israel is actively attempting to involve their nation in another costly and dangerous conflict in the Middle East.

HOW WILL IRAN RETALIATE?

It is not easy to provide an answer to this question as Iran operates based on strategic decisions rather than emotions. Tehran aims to manage the tense situation in the region as the 'axis of resistance' continues to make slow but effective progress against the US/Israeli influence in West Asia.

Iran's response is not to be underestimated but the extent of their reaction is contingent upon various factors, including the location and nature of the response.

On the other hand, the ongoing Israeli assaults on Syria demonstrate that, despite the war and devastation caused by neocons and Zionists, Damascus remains a focal point in the conflict with Israel. The primary goal of weakening the pan-Arabist country was to ultimately eliminate the Palestinian cause by cutting off the main military support route for non-state actors opposing Israel in the region.
Vanessa Beely:
'Both aggressions targeted Hezbollah sites. The attack on Aleppo was unexpected - it is far away from the southern Lebanon front..can only be interpreted as an Israeli attempt to expand the war ..while triggering an escalation from the north-western Al Qaeda groups'


Russia foresaw the escalation a few days ago: Russia condemns Israel's latest airstrikes on Syria as 'provocative actions which can lead to extremely dangerous consequences'

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Red Pill

US seeking to distort facts about Moscow terror attack - intelligence report


RT
Mon, 01 Apr 2024 17:13 UTC
crocus
© Sputnik/Maksim Blinov
The US State Department and special services have reportedly been ordered by the Biden administration to create a "distorted picture" about last month's terrorist attack on a concert hall in Moscow and to remove any suspicion from the Ukrainian government, according to Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR).

On March 22, four gunmen stormed the Crocus City Hall concert venue just outside Moscow, going on a shooting spree and setting fire to the building. The massacre resulted in 144 deaths.

The Afghanistan-based offshoot of the Islamic State terrorist group has claimed credit for the attack. However, the head of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), Aleksandr Bortnikov, has claimed that the US, UK, and Ukraine may be linked to the crime.

Comment: The US is flailing about, hopelessly trying to control the narrative around the Crocus terrorist attack. It's not that different than its efforts in Ukraine to counter Russia.

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Red Flag

Russia-NATO relations worse than during Cold War - Moscow


RT
Mon, 01 Apr 2024 17:05 UTC
nato hq
© AFP / Kenzo Tribouillard
The current state of relations between Russia and NATO can be described as "something more than a Cold War," the head of Moscow's delegation at the Vienna talks on military security and arms control, Konstantin Gavrilov, has said.

During an interview with RIA Novosti on Monday, Gavrilov was asked to comment on French President Emmanuel Macron's February statement that he "cannot exclude" the possibility of troops from NATO countries being sent to Ukraine to aid Kiev in the conflict with Moscow.

"The military strategists in Washington and Brussels should realize: if by lifting the taboo on the potential deployment of the bloc's servicemen to Ukraine they are trying to test our country's strength, then we are ready for any turn of events," he replied.
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Network

Reuters reports Iran tipped Russia off about 'terrorist operation' ahead of attack, but Kremlin says it was not aware of any such warning


RT
Mon, 01 Apr 2024 17:00 UTC
crocus
© Sputnik / Sergey Bobylev
Iran alerted Russia of a looming major "terrorist operation" in the country days before the deadly Crocus City Hall attack, which claimed the lives of over 140, Reuters reported on Monday, citing three sources familiar with the matter. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, however, told reporters he was not aware of such a warning.

The Iranian side reportedly attributed the imminent attack to terrorists within Islamic State's Afghanistan-based ISIS-Khorasan (ISIS-K), citing information obtained during interrogations of suspects in recent deadly bombings in the country. Earlier this year, Tehran detained some 35 suspected members of ISIS-K, following a major blast in the city of Kerman that killed about 100 people.

"[ISIS-K members] were instructed to prepare for a significant operation in Russia... One of the terrorists said some members of the group had already traveled to Russia," one of the sources told the news agency.
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People 2

Genocide in Gaza - Western Hypocrisy and FIFA's Double Standards

Issam Khalidi
Palestine Chronicle
Mon, 01 Apr 2024 13:53 UTC
FIFI president Infantino
Sports is not a marginal component in Gaza's society. There was a time when Gaza was the center of gravity for Palestinian sports.
In the same way that many others are concerned and outraged about the ongoing genocide in Gaza, I was listening to an Israeli official on MSNBC talking about "the massacre of October 7, and the war in Gaza."

For the ethnic cleansing of Palestine to be justified by Israel and its supporters, the Israeli narrative of the 'war between Israel and Hamas', and not Israel's genocide on Gaza, must be accepted by the world.

Howeer, many international law experts stated that what is taking place in Gaza is genocide. And indeed, there is no need to be an international law professor to realize that this is the case.

The statements we hear from extremist Israeli leaders are chilling, sometimes difficult to believe. What is happening in Gaza has impacts on the world's consciousness, especially among the young generation.

Comment: Most of the international sports organisations clearly follow the Western mindset and are displaying their hypocrisy. The Olympic games meant to take place this year is another example where Russia and Belarus are punished yet Israel is given a free pass. See also:

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