Puppet MastersS


Beaker

Whose sarin? Fitting the intelligence around the policy, this time with respect to Syria

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Barack Obama did not tell the whole story this autumn when he tried to make the case that Bashar al-Assad was responsible for the chemical weapons attack near Damascus on 21 August. In some instances, he omitted important intelligence, and in others he presented assumptions as facts. Most significant, he failed to acknowledge something known to the US intelligence community: that the Syrian army is not the only party in the country's civil war with access to sarin, the nerve agent that a UN study concluded - without assessing responsibility - had been used in the rocket attack. In the months before the attack, the American intelligence agencies produced a series of highly classified reports, culminating in a formal Operations Order - a planning document that precedes a ground invasion - citing evidence that the al-Nusra Front, a jihadi group affiliated with al-Qaida, had mastered the mechanics of creating sarin and was capable of manufacturing it in quantity. When the attack occurred al-Nusra should have been a suspect, but the administration cherry-picked intelligence to justify a strike against Assad.

In his nationally televised speech about Syria on 10 September, Obama laid the blame for the nerve gas attack on the rebel-held suburb of Eastern Ghouta firmly on Assad's government, and made it clear he was prepared to back up his earlier public warnings that any use of chemical weapons would cross a 'red line': 'Assad's government gassed to death over a thousand people,' he said. 'We know the Assad regime was responsible ... And that is why, after careful deliberation, I determined that it is in the national security interests of the United States to respond to the Assad regime's use of chemical weapons through a targeted military strike.' Obama was going to war to back up a public threat, but he was doing so without knowing for sure who did what in the early morning of 21 August.

Wolf

Vlad the Merciful: Putin issues amnesty for 25,000 political prisoners

The members of the Pussy Riot punk band, Greenpeace activists and protesters jailed after the May 2012 Bolotnaya demonstration will be freed in an amnesty dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the Russian Constitution, Russian media report.

greenpeace protest
© AFP Photo / Pierre AndrieuHonorary President of non-profit organisation ATTAC, Susan George (Center L), holds a sign bearing the portrait of a jailed Greenpeace activist alongside other protesters taking part in a demonstration calling for the release of a group of Greenpeace activists imprisoned in Russia, on October 31, 2013, in Paris.
A total of 25,000 people will be freed under the amnesty initiated by President Putin, Interfax cited Vladimir Vasilyev, deputy speaker of parliament, as saying.

"Around 1,300 people will be released from prison, and 17,500 people will be relieved of non-custodial sentences. In addition, criminal proceedings against nearly 6,000 can be terminated," Vasilyev said.

Several Russian media including Izvestia and Vedomosti newspapers have obtained a copy of the draft amnesty, which was submitted to the parliament by President Vladimir Putin on Monday.

According to the papers, the participants in such high-profile cases as the Pussy Riot Cathedral protest, Greenpeace's Arctic Sunrise boarding of an oil rig and the Bolotnaya Square riots will all be granted amnesty.

Bad Guys

'Schizophrenic' US foreign policy pushing Arab states toward Russia, Bahrain warns

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Obama administration's stance on Iran and Syria could see US lose influence in the Middle East, Bahrain's rulers warn.

America's "schizophrenic" approach to the Middle East could result in many key Arab states deciding to align themselves more closely with Russia, the rulers of Bahrain warned on Sunday.

In an exclusive interview with The Telegraph, Sheikh Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa, the Crown Prince of Bahrain, warned that Barack Obama's administration would lose influence in the region if it persisted with what a "transient and reactive" foreign policy.

There has been a sharp rise in tensions between Washington and several major Arab states in the wake of last month's controversial interim agreement with Iran over its nuclear programme.

Citing President Obama's handling of the recent crisis over Syria's chemical weapons, which allowed Russian President Vladimir Putin to seize the initiative, Sheikh Salman said some states were now seriously reviewing their relations with the US.

Comment: Note the country making this statement. Bahrain, along with Saudi Arabia and Qatar, is a corrupt little client state of the US in the Middle East and one of the main exporters of terrorism and terrorists to Syria and promoters of the phony "civil war" there, which was an attempt to undermine Iranian influence in the region. So no wonder that the psychos in power in Bahrain, like in Saudi and Qatar, are trying to pressure the US into increasing the pressure on Iran by threatening to 'switch sides' and increase their support for and collaboration with Russia.


Bad Guys

Congress to Obama: Cancel Iran deal

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© APIran's Bushehr nuclear power plant
Congressional opposition to the recently announced nuclear accord with Iran reached a critical tipping point this week as lawmakers from both sides of the aisle publicly lambasted the deal while pushing for tighter economic sanctions on Tehran.

As the details of an interim nuclear deal reached last month in Geneva become clear, Congressional opposition has grown, leaving the White House to sell a deal that even its allies have dubbed as worrisome.

The White House held a classified briefing with members of Congress on Wednesday to push them against passing new sanctions in 2014, giving Iran at least another year of economic reprieve, according to Rep. Brad Sherman (D., Calif.).

"They want to convince us not to take any action in the first five or six months of 2014," Sherman said on the House floor during a Special Order on Iran organized Wednesday evening by Rep. Peter Roskam (R., Ill.). "That means, in effect, we are not going to take action in 2014."

Star of David

Iran refuses to recognize Israel at U.N.

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© APIranians burning Israeli and American flags in 2012
Iran publicly refused to recognize "the Israeli regime" during a full meeting on Thursday of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

The move appeared to stun not a single onlooker at the United Nations, but prompted a sharp response from Israel's ambassador to the U.N.

During the opening moments of the 68th UNGA's 60th plenary meeting, Iran's representative took the floor to reiterate her country's distaste for the Jewish state.

The UNGA meeting was held to mark a procedural - and typically uneventful - vote in which nations meet to approve the credentials of various U.N. member states.

While Iran, like every other nation, voted in favor of the measure, its representative sought to explain that its support should not be interpreted as recognition of Israel.

"We would like to reiterate my government's position that our support for this document should be in no way be considered as the recognition of the Israeli regime," Iran's representative said. "I wish my statement in this regard to be recorded and registered in the final recording of this meeting."

Iran was the only member state to offer an on-the-record statement regarding the vote.

Magnify

Timeline: 10 years of crisis in Ukraine

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© Getty ImagesProtesters in Kiev's Independence Square, Dec 2013
November 22 2004 In Ukraine's second round election, the Central Electoral Commission declares pro-Russian incumbent Viktor Yanukovich the winner. Viktor Yushchenko, the leader of the opposition decries widespread voter fraud and electoral irregularities.

November 23 2004 An estimated 500,000 protestors assemble in Kiev's Independence Square. The Orange Revolution is born. Ukraine's Supreme Court suspends publication of the election results pending an investigation.

December 8 2004 Following the Supreme Court's annulment of the elections, a December re-run of the disputed presidential election is announced. Protesters scale down their demonstration and government employees return to work.

December 11 Doctors in Vienna announce that tests have confirmed that Yushchenko was poisoned with a dioxin.

December 27 2004 Polls close on the third round of voting, with results showing a handsome margin of victory for Yushchenko. Yanukovich resigns as Prime Minister following his failed court action against the latest results. He says he cannot work with Yushchenko loyalists.

Attention

Jim Rogers cautions "Be prepared, be worried, and be careful... this is going to end badly"

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"Eventually, the whole world is going to collapse," Jim Rogers chides a disquieted CBC anchor as he explains the reality that, "we in the West have staggering debts. The United States is the largest debtor nation in the history of the world," adding that "this is going to end badly."

However, the co-founder of Soros' Quantum fund is convinced that the commodity super-cycle is far from over, but driven by supply constraints (and cost increases) as opposed to demand from higher growth. The following interview provides more color on his commodity view as he re-iterates his bullish stance on Ag (with sugar a focus) and Natural Gas (some harsh natural realities coming), warning "don't get too excited about fracking," when he talks energy products.

Rogers, in his inimitable way, sums up the state of euphoria that many markets find themselves in thus, "we are all floating around on a sea of artificial liquidity right now. This is not going to last."

Propaganda

'Nothing is beyond our reach,' National Reconnaissance Office's new logo claims

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© NROThe logo for the latest secret mission by the National Reconnaissance Office has raised a few eyebrows.
The U.S. National Reconnaissance Office launched a new spy satellite Thursday evening on mission NROL-39 -- and the new logo and tagline are quite an eye opener.

The new logo features a giant, world-dominating octopus, its sucker-covered tentacles encircling the planet while it looks on with determination, a steely glint in its enormous eye. The logo carries a five-word tagline: "Nothing is beyond our reach."

Christopher Soghoian, principal technologist and senior policy analyst with the ACLU, raised a quizzical eyebrow at the new slogan.

"Advice to @ODNIgov: You may want to downplay the massive dragnet spying thing right now. This logo isn't helping," he wrote.

An agency spokeswoman told Forbes that there's a very good reason for the symbol: The octopus is intelligent, and therefore a good emblem for an intelligence agency.

"NROL-39 is represented by the octopus, a versatile, adaptable, and highly intelligent creature. Emblematically, enemies of the United States can be reached no matter where they choose to hide," said Karen Furgerson, a spokeswoman for the NRO. "'Nothing is beyond our reach' defines this mission and the value it brings to our nation and the warfighters it supports, who serve valiantly all over the globe, protecting our nation."


Comment: Not likely. The The Dictionary of Symbols defines an Octopus like so: "This shapeless, tentacled creature stands significantly for the monsters who regularly symbolize the spirits of the Underground and even Hell itself."


Star of David

Israel gets Irish radio presenter suspended from broadcasting after he says on air what everybody already knows, that Gaza is an open-air prison

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Peter Kearney, presenter of the International Politics show on Dublin's Near FM, had ridiculed Ireland's Broadcasting Authority after a complaint from the Israeli embassy was upheld.

The Sunday Times reports that Kearney has been suspended and told by station management that his actions 'were not acceptable.' Kearney had interviewed a number of people last March about their experiences in Gaza in the aftermath of Israeli military action in 2008 and 2009.

The paper reports that during his program, he described Gaza as an 'open-air prison,' endorsing a term used by one interviewee. The presenter also said on air that Israel did not want to share the waters off the coast of Gaza with Palestinians because of their potential gas and oil reserves.

Comment: Israel is currently in violation of international law due to its illegal military occupation and blockade of the Gaza Strip. There exists an urgent humanitarian crisis in Gaza, with raw sewage flowing in the streets, power outages, an economy choked by the occupation, closure of border crossings, and the destruction of the smuggling tunnels used to supply basic necessities for Palestinians.

So, Peter Kearney did tell the truth in this situation, but in the world in which we live, truth is not on the playlist.


Snakes in Suits

Guardian editor interrogated by UK Parliamentary Committee over Snowden leaks, the same Committee that gave UK Intelligence chiefs a free pass just weeks earlier

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Alan Rusbridger being interrogated by a UK Parliamentary committee
The top editor of the British newspaper The Guardian told Parliament on Tuesday that since it obtained documents on government surveillance from a former National Security Agency contractor, Edward J. Snowden, it has met with government agencies in Britain and the United States more than 100 times and has been subjected to measures "designed to intimidate."

The testimony by the editor, Alan Rusbridger, gave a public airing to the debate over how to balance press freedom against national security concerns, an issue that became more acute once The Guardian began publishing material leaked by Mr. Snowden in June.

The American and British governments have said the disclosures, which detail how the National Security Agency and its equivalent in Britain, Government Communication Headquarters, gather vast amounts of data, damage national security and help hostile governments. Journalists and transparency advocates have countered that the leak spurred a vital debate on privacy and the role of spy agencies in the Internet age.

Comment: Unbelievable. After all that has been publicised since the leaks began in June, they don't even pretend to be upset that spying on citizens for purposes of intimidation, blackmail and social control has gotten completely out of hand... instead they publicly interrogate the whistleblowers while patting the criminals on the back:

Britain's spy chiefs make daylight debut like a trio of Draculas in winter sun