Puppet Masters

SOTT Exclusive: The Battle for Azaz heats up - game changer in the Turkey-Aleppo corridor

Paul Mansfield
Sott.net
Sun, 05 Jun 2016 19:06 UTC

The battle is heating up for the strategically vital town of Azaz in Northern Aleppo.

Azaz was the site of fierce fighting in February, when Turkey, startled by gains made by rebels led by the Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG), which threatened to cut off Turkish-backed rebel supply routes, bombed rebel positions. Then Prime Minister Ahmet Davotoglu vowed, "We will not allow Azaz to fall." Gains made by the rebels, consisting of the YPG and Jaysh al-Thuwar, part of the Syrian Democratic Forces SDF, were halted by Turkish artillery shelling before they could seize Azaz.

The Azaz corridor connects Aleppo to Turkey and is held by Turkish-backed al-Nusra, Turkmen and Free Syrian Army elements. After advances by the Kurds, SAA and SDF in Aleppo province, Azaz became the sole major town still in the alliance's hands. Its fall would have totally cut off supplies to the Turkish-backed rebels in Aleppo. This explains Turkey's fierce determination to ensure Azaz did not fall to the Kurds. Advances by the Syrian Army (SAA) threatened the same outcome; Turkey also shelled its positions.

ISIS made rapid gains in areas to the east of Azaz on 26 May, capturing 6 villages in a rout of rebel forces. Free Syrian Army units had pledged allegiance to Jaish al-Mujahideen, aiming to bolster their numbers in their ongoing fight against ISIS in the region. This has proven ineffective as its forces now face being isolated and further routed.

Hillary comes out as the war party's candidate - no shock there!

Diana Johnstone
CounterPunch
Sun, 05 Jun 2016 18:51 UTC

On June 2, a few days before the California primary, Hillary Clinton gave up trying to compete with Bernie Sanders on domestic policy. Instead, she zeroed in on the soft target of Donald Trump's most "bizarre rants" in order to present herself as experienced and reasonable. Evidently taking her Democratic Party nomination for granted, she is positioning herself as the perfect candidate for hawkish Republicans.

Choosing to speak in San Diego, home base of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, on a platform draped with 19 American flags and preceded by half an hour of military marching music, Hillary Clinton was certain of finding a friendly audience for her celebration of American "strength", "values" and "exceptionalism". Cheered on by a military audience, Hillary was already assuming the role to which she most ardently aspires: that of Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces.

Whenever Hillary speaks, one must look for the lies. The biggest lies in this speech were lies of omission. No mention of her support for the invasion of Iraq, no mention of the disaster she wrought in Libya, no mention of her contribution to pursuing endless death and destruction in the Middle East.

Comment: Hillary Clinton: a candidate that death-lovers and torture fanatics from either side of the fence can rally behind as their murderer in chief.

US-India: Indications of a stronger alliance?

Martin Berger
New Eastern Outlook
Sun, 05 Jun 2016 00:00 UTC

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to state that over the recent years, Washington has made the isolation of Russia and China its prime objective. To achieve this goal, the White House has developed a plan to prevent the strengthening of the international position of BRICS - the association that unites five major developing economies: Brazilian, Russia, India, China and South Africa. These are nations distinguished by their large, fast-growing economies and significant influence on regional and global affairs. In recent months, Washington has managed to isolate Brazil from Russia and China by destabilizing the sociopolitical order in this country through the active use of various nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).

And now it seems that it's India's turn. A year ago, US President Barack Obama already paid an official visit to the country to launch a number of joint projects with New Delhi, including the manufacturing of light drones and biohazard suits. This visit created preconditions for Narenda Modi's visit to Washington, which will take place on June 7-8 despite the fact that India's Prime Minister has been under US sanctions for the last ten years.

In order to prepare Modi's visit, India's Foreign Secretary Subrahmanyam Jaishankar arrived to Washington on April 30. The White House Press Secretary announced that Modi and Obama are going to sign a number of bilateral agreements that are meant to be added to Obama's "political legacy." To add some significance to the visit of India's PM, the Oval Office went as far as to support the idea of the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Paul Ryan, who wants to invite Narenda Modi to deliver a speech in front of both houses of Congress.

Press TV would note:

Indian papers reported on Friday that US lawmakers' recent approval of a defense bill will put the country at par with NATO allies. This would mean that Washington could in future treat New Delhi as a closer partner and might sell it more defense equipment and technology.

US analysts believe that Obama will try to use Modi's visit to lift the restrictions on the activities of the American companies in India (including tax reviews and customs regulations), push for the improvement of intellectual property laws in this country, and force India into countering China's growing influence in Asia-Pacific through a number of defense deals. In this context, Washington hopes that this would allow the US to further strengthen its position as a major global arms supplier.

Comment: India wants the best of both worlds. The US wants only one, and will scratch its puppet fingernails through the heart and soul of India to get to China and Russia. For now the US is sweetening the deals, promising the moon. Should India turn fickle...we know, from example, how badly this will turn out. India had best have a darn good back-up plan.

See also:

Turkey's sunken tourism: Resorts sink planes in desperate attempt to attract tourists with stupid gimmicks

Sputnik
Sun, 05 Jun 2016 17:40 UTC

City authorities of one of Turkey's popular Aegean Sea resorts have sunk an Airbus A300 passenger jet just off the coast in a bid to boost diving tourism in the region, The Daily Sabah reported on Sunday.

The retired 54-meter airliner with a wingspan of 44 meters, sent to the sea bottom off the Kusadasi resort in Aydin province, will become the biggest man-made reef ever created, the newspaper wrote.

The 36-year-old aircraft, bought from a private aviation company, cost the Aydin municipality the equivalent of $93,000.

A team of professional divers using sophisticated equipment took more than two hours to sink the plane as hundreds of people gathered on the shore to watch the plane go down.

Comment: Rather than coming up with really stupid gimmicks like sinking planes to create man made reefs, Turkey could increase it's tourism by removing its deranged leader Erdogan, not blackmailing other countries, and not stabbing other countries in the back.

Like these intentionally sunken ships, Turkey is symbolically sinking itself as a country.

For more information:

Brazil: Interim president's credibility collapses, 8-year ban on running for office

Glen Greenwald
The Intercept
Fri, 03 Jun 2016 08:14 UTC

It has been obvious from the start that a core objective of the impeachment of Brazil's elected president, Dilma Rousseff, was to empower the actual thieves in Brasilia and enable them to impede, obstruct, and ultimately kill the ongoing Car Wash investigation (as well as to impose a neoliberal agenda of privatization and radical austerity). A mere 20 days into the seizure of power by the corruption-implicated "interim" President Michel Temer, overwhelming evidence has emerged proving that to be true: Already, two of the interim ministers in Temer's all-white-male cabinet, including his anti-corruption minister, have been forced to resign after the emergence of secret recordings showing them plotting to obstruct that investigation (an investigation in which they, along with one-third of his cabinet, are personally implicated).

But the oozing corruption of Temer's ministers has sometimes served to obscure his own. He, too, is implicated in several corruption investigations. And now, he has been formally convicted of violating election laws and, as punishment, is banned from running for any political office for eight years. Yesterday, a regional election court in São Paulo, where he's from, issued a formal decree finding him guilty and declaring him "ineligible" to run for any political office as a result of now having a "dirty record" in elections. Temer was found guilty of spending his own funds on his campaign in excess of what the law permits.

Last night at an event in Rio de Janeiro, I was asked — as I always am at such events — about possible U.S. involvement in the change of government. Here are four minutes of my answer:

Comment: Brazil is part of BRICS, an international, multi-polar, socio-political and economic alliance the US is determined to dismantle.

See also: The Brazil fingerprint: Just look at who is to be installed as president and finance chiefs

Comment: Temer is known as the "captain of the coup". He was involved in the Petrobas kickbacks of which bribery payments have allegedly gone to Temer and his party. He is also implicated in an illegal ethanol-purchase scheme, the recipient of secret payments for contract favors. Only 2 percent of voters say they would vote for him, while 58% would impeach him. His political days are numbered. With Rousseff also in jeopardy, how does this 'void at the top' for B of BRICS appeal to US machinations? Going as planned?

US, EU: Islamic State urging terror attacks during Ramadan

Bill Gertz
The Washington Free Beacon
Fri, 03 Jun 2016 04:50 UTC

The Islamic State is urging jihadists in the United States and Europe to carry out terror attacks during what a group spokesman promised would be "the month of conquest and jihad." A U.S. government advisory warned that ISIS attacks, either directly sponsored or simply inspired by the group's rhetoric, could be carried out during Islam's month of Ramadan that begins June 5.

The threatened attacks were announced in an ISIS video made public May 21. In the video, ISIS spokesman Abu Mohammad al-Adnani called on jihadists to "get prepared, be ready ... to make it a month of calamity everywhere for nonbelievers...especially for the fighters and supporters of the caliphate in Europe and America."

A report by the State Department-led Overseas Security Advisory Council said the threat could be credible because three deadly terror attacks took place last year shortly after Adnani issued a similar call to arms. "According to Islamic practice, sacrifice during Ramadan can be considered more valuable than that made at other times, so a call to martyrdom during the month may hold a special allure to some," the report said.

There is no information indicating a specific ISIS attack is being planned, although the threat of attacks remains significant, the report said. The report, produced by the State Department's diplomatic security office, said there is no data to indicate Ramadan witnesses increased terrorism, "but as [ISIS] remains focused on expanding conflict, it is likely to continue to seek to carry out attacks during the holy month." Ramadan includes a period of fasting for Muslims and is held each year during the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar.

Comment: While vigilance is always useful, the ratcheting up of fear sets the stage. What will be achieved? What will be destroyed? To wishfully keep this from happening again (though it surely will because it works so well), what will be the price to pay?

The long reach of Big Pharma: Who runs Washington?

Tony Cartalucci
Activist Post
Fri, 03 Jun 2016 17:20 UTC

Like a mythical sea monster, the true nature of a Wall Street-London centered global corporatocracy is often talked about but rarely seen. However, on rare occasions, a tentacle breaks the surface and affords the public an opportunity to examine and assess its true, gargantuan dimensions.

Just such a moment occurred when leaked diplomatic letters from the Colombian Embassy in Washington D.C. revealed just how far the United States government is willing to go on behalf of the corporate-financier interests that clearly shape the entirety of its foreign policy.

Comment: Big Pharma continues to lose credibility

When you visit the websites for leading pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer and Novartis, you'll find mission statements that will feed you with inspiring goals such as "improve health and well-being," "provide access to safe, effective and affordable medicines," and "to prevent and cure diseases, to ease suffering and to enhance the quality of life."

Who still believes this? Let's keep it straight: major pharmaceutical companies are in the business of dealing drugs and making money.

Behind the Headlines: ‌NATO goes ballistic over Russia's growing influence

Sott.net
Sun, 05 Jun 2016 16:00 UTC

NATO war games in the Baltics, the ubiquitous and hysterical cries of "Russian aggression" and potential Russian invasions, now culminating in the decision to place NATO missiles in Poland and Romania. The anti-Russian information war is running at full steam, tensions are rising, and the new Cold War mentality is spreading.

The latest geopolitical events have caused many in the alternative media to write about the threat of a full-blown war between NATO and the Russian Federation: Robert Parry, Paul Craig Roberts, Pepe Escobar, The Saker, Dmitry Orlov, Stephen Lendman, William Engdahl, Eric Zuesse, and more. So what's the deal? Is humanity facing a M.A.D. scenario? Will Russia invade or attack a European nation? Will NATO throw the first punch? In short, will there be a 'hot war' with Russia? And is there the potential for it to go nuclear? Join us today on Behind the Headlines as we look at what people are saying, sifting out the realities from the hype.

Running Time: 01:52:48

Download: MP3

U.S. unwilling to support peace in Syria - Russia returns to double-down on terrorist threat

Moon of Alabama
Sat, 04 Jun 2016 22:19 UTC

The Obama administration does not want peace in Syria. The Russians finally have to admit to themselves that the U.S. is no partner for a continuation of a ceasefire, a coordinated attack against the Islamic State and al-Qaeda and for peace in Syria. Indeed, as Lavrov explains, the U.S. has again asked to spare al-Qaeda from Russian air strikes even as two UN Security Council resolutions demand its eradication. Huge supply convoys (vid) from Turkey are again going to the "rebels" who will, as always, share them with al-Qaeda and other terrorists.

The current renewed Syrian Arab Army attack towards Raqqa is being obstructed not only by sandstorms but also by a timely attack of al-Qaeda, Ahrar al Sham and Turkestan Islamist Party forces against government positions in the south Aleppo countryside.

More than 1,000 militants have begun an offensive against Syrian army positions southwest of Aleppo, the Russian ceasefire monitoring center in Syria said in a statement on Saturday.

The center also reported civilians in Aleppo as saying armed groups partly made up of Turkish soldiers had appeared north of the city.

The exact same scheme happened in March and April when a move towards eastern Syria by the Syrian army had to be stopped to prevent further losses against al-Qaeda south of Aleppo. It seems obvious that these moves by U.S.-supported forces are planned to prevent any gains of the Syrian government in the east.

Obama's visit to Vietnam signals Empire's continued movement against Russia and China

Finian Cunningham
Strategic Culture Foundation
Sat, 04 Jun 2016 12:29 UTC

US President Barack Obama's "legacy world tour" continued with "historic" visits to Vietnam followed by the Japanese city of Hiroshima. He is the first sitting president to attend the Japanese city where the US dropped an atomic bomb 71 years ago killing at least 140,000 people.

While in Vietnam's capital, Hanoi, Obama announced the "historic" lifting of a US arms embargo on the country, an embargo that had been in place for the past 50 years since the end of the American war on the country - a war which killed upwards of three million Vietnamese people.

Unofficially, the presidential swing through Asia can be seen as Obama's "legacy" tour. With only months to go before his second term in the White House ends, it seems obvious that Obama's purpose is partly to clock up a series of putative historic achievements in order to burnish his slot in the history books, as well as add kudos to lucrative future earnings as a globe-trotting celebrity speaker.

Earlier this year, the 44th president became the first US leader to visit socialist Cuba since his predecessor Calvin Coolidge in 1928, bearing hyped promises of "normalized relations" - but still no end to the trade embargo that Washington has imposed on the Caribbean island for the past 55 years.

Their HELL bent in injecting this SHIT in to everyone and will stop at nothing until their demented goal is achieved. If you lose your job for not...

Winternights3

Someone deport this monstrous POS back to hell, or wherever. Anywhere with a good stockade 😤and his kids too

slbeaudry

To prevent Corona spreading they're gonna make everyone be asymptomatic super spreaders. if you agree with this action as legitimate you're a dumb...

sbc

If you read the linked white house statement try not to puke.

sbc

Let's go, Brandon! Fucking asswipe, worthless, POS. Fraud! Argh! 😤

slbeaudry

Puppet Masters

SOTT Exclusive: The Battle for Azaz heats up - game changer in the Turkey-Aleppo corridor

Hillary comes out as the war party's candidate - no shock there!

US-India: Indications of a stronger alliance?

Turkey's sunken tourism: Resorts sink planes in desperate attempt to attract tourists with stupid gimmicks

Brazil: Interim president's credibility collapses, 8-year ban on running for office

US, EU: Islamic State urging terror attacks during Ramadan

The long reach of Big Pharma: Who runs Washington?

Behind the Headlines: ‌NATO goes ballistic over Russia's growing influence

U.S. unwilling to support peace in Syria - Russia returns to double-down on terrorist threat

Obama's visit to Vietnam signals Empire's continued movement against Russia and China

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