Puppet MastersS


Better Earth

Trump's 'crazy' ideas not so crazy after all

Lawrence Kadish
Gatestone Institute
Thu, 09 Jan 2025 04:00 UTC
DJTrump
© Scott Olson/Getty ImagesPresident-elect Donald J. Trump speaks at a press conference • Mar-a-Lago Club • January 7, 2025 • Palm Beach, Florida
Why is it that people are always calling for someone to think "outside the box," then when someone does, say, "Aaaak! He thought outside the box!"

In that view, President-elect Donald J. Trump has already committed (at least) three heresies: Buy Greenland, stop China from controlling the Panama Canal and deepen America's affiliation with Canada. All three ideas are neither crazy nor even new.

President Harry S. Truman looked at acquiring Greenland in 1946.

Thomas Jefferson, after the Louisiana Purchase, proposed buying Cuba - just think how the Cubans would be prospering now, politically and economically, if that deal had gone through.

Those acquisitions didn't take place but in 1917, the US did acquire Denmark's Virgin Islands for $25 million.

As historian Stephen Press writes: As secretary of state, John Quincy Adams arranged debt relief for Spain in exchange for Florida.

Secretary of State William Seward acquired Alaska.

Comment: Trump's precedent: America is historically a composite of purchases, deals and mutual arrangements.

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USA

US playing 'fool's game' by ignoring Russia's red lines - Peter Kuznick


RT
Sat, 11 Jan 2025 13:16 UTC
screenshot
The American University professor spoke to RT after joining director Oliver Stone on Tucker Carlson's podcast.

The strategy pursued by the US in the Ukraine conflict risks provoking serious responses from Russia, Peter Kuznick, professor of history and director of the Nuclear Studies Institute at American University, has said.

Kuznick earlier appeared on US journalist Tucker Carlson's podcast show alongside director Oliver Stone. In an exclusive interview to RT on Saturday, he warned against assuming Russia's red lines can be crossed without consequence:
"Russia keeps drawing red lines, and the United States keeps crossing them on the assumption that Russia is 'bluffing' and that President Vladimir Putin is not going to follow through on his threats."
He described this approach as a "fool's game," warning it could lead to severe repercussions.

Kuznick criticized the belief that Russia will remain passive, calling it "insanity" and stressing that such assumptions gamble with global safety.


Comment: Be it fear or hope: The reality of the future is based on the reality today.

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Cell Phone

CIA can read WhatsApp messages - Zuckerberg


RT
Sat, 11 Jan 2025 09:53 UTC
MarkZ
© Alex Wong/Getty ImagesMeta CEO Mark Zuckerberg • Senate Judiciary Committee • Washington DC • January 31, 2024
Encryption prevents Meta from accessing chats, but it is powerless when someone logs directly into a user's phone, the company's CEO has said.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has acknowledged that US authorities, including the CIA, can access WhatsApp messages by remotely logging into users' devices, effectively bypassing the platform's end-to-end encryption.

Speaking on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast on Friday, Zuckerberg explained that while WhatsApp's encryption prevents Meta from viewing message content, it does not protect against physical access to a user's phone.

Comment: We have no concept of how adept surveillance is to monitor minds via matter. It's whatever they say it is or isn't.

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Bad Guys

Presidential frontrunner Calin Georgescu: NATO using Romania as 'door for war' against Russia


RT
Sun, 12 Jan 2025 17:59 UTC
Romanian presidential candidate Calin Georgescu
© Instagram / calingeorgescuoficialRomanian presidential candidate Calin Georgescu
The expansion of the MK Air Base is aimed at starting a conflict, Calin Georgescu has claimed

NATO is using Romania as "a door for war," aiming to launch a major offensive into Russia, independent presidential candidate Calin Georgescu has warned.

During an episode of The Shawn Ryan Show published on Saturday, Georgescu and former US Navy SEAL Shawn Ryan discussed the coup d'etat in Romania and the potential implications of the military buildup at the Mihail Kogalniceanu (MK) Air Base, the largest NATO facility near the Black Sea. The presidential candidate has raised concerns over the bloc's military presence in Romania, warning that the country's NATO bases could be used to trigger a war with Russia.

Comment:

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USA

Farewell to Jimmy Carter... and American democracy

Finian Cunningham
Strategic Culture Foundation
Sun, 12 Jan 2025 18:04 UTC
Carter's Funeral Service
© Public Domain
The funeral pageantry and tributes to the late Jimmy Carter seemed a tad contrived, as if America's political establishment was trying its best to project an image of national unity and reverential soul - at a time when the country is irrevocably, bitterly divided and its institutions are tarnished beyond redemption.

Carter died at the age of 100 on December 29 - the longest-lived U.S. president in history - and was given a state funeral on January 9 in the National Cathedral in Washington. A national day of mourning was declared, and flags flew at half mast on public buildings.

The drawn-out funeral arrangement seemed to give the media endless scope for nostalgia about a humble peanut farmer who became president for one term between 1977 and 1981. The rose-tinted view of Carter's legacy harked to a time of supposed decency and bipartisan civility in American politics.

The contrast with the present partisan enmity in U.S. politics could not be sharper. The contempt between Democrats and Republicans could not be more vicious.

Republican President-elect Donald Trump takes office on January 20. He takes over from Democrat Joe Biden. The vaunted peaceful transfer of power is a charade. During the election campaign last year, Biden repeatedly called Trump the "biggest threat to our democracy." This was a reference to Trump's demagoguery and fascist proclivities.

Yet, at the funeral for Carter, Trump was seated beside former Democrat President Barack Obama, chatting and smiling before the service. Also sitting in the front rows were Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, who lost the election to Trump - despite her condemnations also lambasting Trump as a threat to democracy.
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Bullseye

Best of the Web: Meloni: Soros is interfering in democracies, not Musk


Remix News
Sat, 11 Jan 2025 22:02 UTC
Italy Premier Giorgia Meloni
© AP Photo/Bilal HusseinItalian Premier Giorgia Meloni during a visit to Lebanon on Friday, Oct. 18, 2024.
"This is not the first time that famous and wealthy people have expressed their opinions. I have seen many such cases, often against me, and no one was offended then"

At a press conference in Rome earlier this year, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said that Elon Musk's political posts on X do not pose a threat to democracy; while oligarch George Soros, however, continuously interferes in the politics of other nations, according to Italy's leader.

"The problem is when wealthy people use their resources to finance parties, associations and political exponents all over the world to influence the political choices of nation states", Meloni told reporters at an annual press conference. "That's not what Musk is doing," she added.

Comment: Soros' fingerprints are all over many of the woes Europe has suffered in the last decade, with aid from the politicians he's helped place in power.

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Arrow Down

The decline of the Pentagon: A new scenario of uncertainty for NATO

Lucas Leiroz
Strategic Culture Foundation
Fri, 10 Jan 2025 00:00 UTC
Pentagon
© Glowimages/Getty ImagesThe Pentagon
It seems increasingly clear to military analysts that the United States is no longer the same military power it once was.

In recent years, U.S. military supremacy has often been seen as a central factor in maintaining the Western-led international order. The idea that the Pentagon could conduct intensive military operations against multiple adversaries simultaneously was widely accepted not only as a strategic reality but as an unquestionable imposition of power. However, with the advancement of Russian military operations in Ukraine, the changing global geopolitical landscape, and the emergence of multipolarity, the Pentagon's role in the current configuration of international tensions is beginning to be questioned.

Over the past few decades, the United States has demonstrated its ability to face simultaneous conflicts, with a presence on multiple fronts and in different parts of the world, whether in the Middle East, Central Asia or Africa. The idea of war in two simultaneous theaters of operations, considered a strategic possibility, reflected the country's confidence in its technological superiority and the power of its armed forces. NATO, as the military arm of the Western alliance, also aligned itself with this vision of an omnipotent and indomitable military power, capable of facing any adversary. However, the current reality seems to challenge this narrative.

Comment: Stretched to the max, the ensuing rebound will be alarmingly swift, potentially final.

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USA

First order of business of new congress is to protect Israel

Philip Giraldi
The Unz Review
Fri, 10 Jan 2025 00:00 UTC
ISraeli flagfolks
© Oded Bality/APObligation?
What exactly is being inaugurated?

The big news over the past week has been the record breaking California fires, which have destroyed more than 9,000 homes. There have been the usual slick denials from the politicians over who was responsible for the promised but not executed clearing of brush in forested areas. I particularly enjoyed the comment by actor Mel Gibson, who lost his home, when discussing the disaster with podcaster Joe Rogan. Rogan, a former Californian said, "They spent $24 billion last year on the homeless, and what did they spend on preventing these wildfires?" Rogan asked and answered: "Zip." "Zip," Gibson agreed. "And in 2019, [Governor Gavin] Newsom said, you know, that he would take care of the forest, maintain the forest and do all that kinda stuff. He didn't do anything." "On top of that, they cut the water off," Rogan responded and Gibson then joked, "All our tax dollars probably went for Gavin's hair gel."
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Putin

Putin ready for 'unconditional' Trump meeting - Kremlin


RT
Fri, 10 Jan 2025 14:53 UTC
TrumpPutin
© German Government Press Office/Getty ImagesThen US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin • G20 Summit • July 7, 2017
The talks only require a mutual desire to resolve problems through dialogue, spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is open to direct talks with US President-elect Donald Trump, but no specific details have yet been finalized.

Previously, Trump announced that a meeting with Putin is being set up, suggesting that it will likely take place after he officially assumes office on January 20. Throughout his 2024 presidential campaign, the Republican repeatedly vowed to end the Ukraine conflict "within 24 hours" of entering office and said he would compel Moscow and Kiev to restart negotiations.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Peskov confirmed that Putin and Trump have expressed their readiness to communicate, adding that there are no preconditions to holding a meeting between the two leaders.
"President Putin has repeatedly stated his openness to contacts with international leaders, including the US president and, in particular, Donald Trump. No conditions are required for this. What is required is a mutual desire and political will to conduct a dialogue, to resolve existing problems through dialogue. Moscow has recognized Trump's readiness to solve problems through talks. We welcome this."
Peskov stated that there are still no specifics on when and where the meeting would be held and that Moscow is currently acting on "the assumption of mutual readiness for the meeting." He added that it is likely there will be "some movement" in this regard after Trump enters the Oval Office.
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Dollars

Trump to inherit Biden's unspent Ukraine aid - Pentagon


RT
Fri, 10 Jan 2025 21:09 UTC
ZelTrump
© Alex Kent/Getty ImagesUS President-elect Donald Trump • Ukraine leader Vladimir Zelensky • Trump Tower • New York City • September 27, 2024
The US president-elect has previously warned that Kiev may see less money once he takes office.

US President Joe Biden will not get to spend all of his allocated military aid money for Ukraine before President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration, leaving the incoming administration with "a few billion dollars" to decide whether to give to Kiev, the Pentagon has announced.

Ukraine has received a total of $122 billion in military, financial, and humanitarian aid from the US since the conflict with Russia escalated in February 2022, according to the latest figures provided by the Pentagon. The military component of this sum has come from two main sources: a series of spending bills passed by Congress, and the use of Presidential Drawdown Authority - a fund capped by Congress that Biden can use to send weapons and ammunition from US stocks direct to Kiev.

The Biden administration has used this authority 72 times to transfer arms to Ukraine, most recently on Thursday when Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced a $500 million weapons package, comprising anti-air missiles, artillery shells and air-to-ground missiles.
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