Puppet MastersS


Broom

Iran reports no damage after alleged Israel attack

isfahan iran
© Fatemeh Bahrami - Anadolu AgencyPeople walk on the streets of Tehran as they continue their daily lives after the explosions heard in Isfahan and Tabriz cities of Iran, in Tehran, Iran on April 19, 2024.
Sounds of heavy explosions were heard in at least two Iranian cities in the early hours of this morning amid an alleged Israeli attack inside the Islamic Republic.

Iranian authorities downplayed the incidents and said the sound of explosions in the central Iranian city of Isfahan and the northwestern city of Tabriz were the result of Iranian air defence systems firing at "suspicious objects", as reported by state media.

Officials insisted that all military and nuclear facilities located in and around the city of Isfahan were safe and no damage had been caused.

Comment: Scott Ritter provides some analysis on the incident:


Reports of an Israeli retaliatory strike on Iran appear to be related to a very limited attack in the vicinity of the Iranian city of Isfahan on military targets not related to Iran's nuclear program. The weapons used in this strike are unknown at this point, although Iran claims to have shot down at least three drones of an undetermined type. Israel has not taken public credit for the attack. Indeed, the only link to Israel comes from anonymous statements from sources claimed to be US officials. While Iran has stated it would strike Israel with immediate and decisive force if Israel were to attack, the extremely limited and anonymous nature of this attack may provide Iran with the opportunity to dismiss this attack as nothing of consequence, thereby eliminating the necessity of an Iranian retaliation. The Iranian Foreign Minister had issued a statement about decisive retaliation at the UN which constitutes official declaratory policy on Iranian deterrence policy which may be deemed sufficient for the moment. If the action in Isfahan is the limit of the Israeli action, then this matter may be concluded.
At least one of the missiles allegedly landed in Iraq:


The following is fake news Israel has been circulating as proof of its attack:


To which Iran responded:
BREAKING: NO STRIKES FROM OUTSIDE OF IRAN "There are no foreign airstrikes against Iran and what is being circulated are lies and a misinformation war of confusion. The complicit and suspicious American media is conducting a proxy misinformation war on behalf of the "israeli" occupation."




Whistle

Western tycoon claims Zelensky associates trying to extort millions of euros

FILE PHOTO: Arnulf Damerau in 2017.
© Sean Zanni / Patrick McMullan via Getty ImagesFILE PHOTO: Arnulf Damerau in 2017.
Ukrainian authorities have accused a major online casino co-owned by entrepreneur Arnulf Damerau of tax evasion

One of the largest private Western investors in Ukraine has told the Financial Times that senior Kiev officials, including some from President Vladimir Zelensky's office, are trying to extort money from him.

Anglo-German businessman Arnulf Damerau co-owns Cosmolot, one of the largest online casino operators in Ukraine, which is being investigated by the country's Economic Security Bureau (ESBU). In an interview with the British paper on Thursday, he alleged that senior Ukrainian officials some months ago had made to him what amounted to a criminal proposal.

Comment:
1) The information in the article that "some 90% of frontline troops suffer from a gambling addiction" is disturbing, add some drugs and alcohol to the picture, and it is clear why there is not more resistance from the people on the ground. Taking a step back, in many western countries teenagers loose class time and memory restoring night sleep due to computer games, helped along with legal and illegal drugs. Is it called zombification?

2) The German paper, Berliner Zeitung posted and article about the case, beginning, if translated:
German investor accuses Ukraine of corruption: "Reminiscent of Yanukovych's darkest times"
The owner of a large gambling platform in Ukraine sees himself being blackmailed by high-ranking officials in Kiev. The corruption is said to extend into government circles.

One of Ukraine's largest investors claims that corrupt Kiev security officials and people close to the government are blackmailing him. It's about tens of millions of euros. At least that's what the always well-informed Financial Times, based in London, reports.
3) From this page, Arnulf Damerau, there is in the about section:
Arnulf Damerau is a serial entrepreneur and globally active philanthropist. He is chairman and founder of the EuroAtlantic Group and the EuroAtlantic Institute which hosts the annual EuroAtlantic Security Dinners during the MSC Munich Security Conference and the WEF World Economic Forum. Arnulf is a shareholder in Crowdstrike, the leading global CyberSecurity firm that protects the Cybersecurity of 10 largest financial institutions the world. . Arnulf studied and worked in Europe, United States and Japan, and graduated from the Wharton Business School in 1991. He is a competitive sailor and pilot.
Mr. Damerau is undoubtedly a very sharp businessman, though the above expression "serial entrepreneur" is less familiar than "serial killer", but how come he did not realize what he was getting into when he began business in Ukraine, as in when you play in the dirt you get dirty. Can he not take a lesson from the people addicted to the games he has earned fortunes on, accept a big loss, and get over with it, rather than being a sorry looser? One could counter such pessimism and criticism with saying that there is always money to be made, also in war, and that it was courageous of him to step into the Ukrainian market after the war had begun. Counting on the war ending at some time is realistic, even if it could draw out, and being into a market early is always an advantage.

Alternatively one might argue, that taking risks is fine, but the amount of money he might loose is perhaps small compared to what he has or controls, so why did he not just leave, when he was threatened, and why this public whining now? Was one intention to entice the corrupt to show their face, so he would later be able to raise a voice against what is going on, given how difficult it has been for many German and European businesses, business people after the US and its EU lackeys pushed the confrontation with Russia through their front line NATO dressed up Ukrainian Nazionalists?

Whatever the case may be, considering how connected Damerau is, and his comparing of the current government with what they toppled could point to regime change being on the horizon. Zelensky assumed office on May 20, 2019 intended to last five years. Zelensky knows this as well as anyone else, and now Damerau, by going public with his complaint, has played the ball over to Zelensky.


Nuke

Iran warns Israel it knows where its nukes are hidden

An Iranian “hypersonic” ballistic missile unveiled in June, 2023.
© Sepah News / Handout via Anadolu Agency / Getty ImagesAn Iranian “hypersonic” ballistic missile unveiled in June, 2023.
An attack on Tehran's facilities will trigger tit-for-tat retaliation, the IRGC officer in charge of their safety has said.

A senior officer of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has warned that Tehran is capable of striking Israeli nuclear facilities if its own are hit, according to local media.

Tensions have escalated in the Middle East this month following an alleged Israeli airstrike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus on April 1, in which seven IRGC officers were killed. Tehran retaliated last weekend with a massive barrage of drones and missiles, most of which were reportedly downed by the Jewish state and its Western backers.

The Israeli nuclear compounds "are identified, and the necessary information about all the targets is at our disposal to respond," IRGC Brigadier General Ahmad Haghtalab, claimed, as quoted by Tasnim, a semi-official news agency associated with the regiment. "We have a hand on the trigger to launch powerful missiles and destroy those targets."

Comment: See also:


Gavel

Riot revisited: Biden DOJ tested in Supreme Court fight implicating Trump and hundreds of Jan. 6 cases

trump
© Jacquelyn Martin/APPresident Donald Trump arrives to speak at a rally in Washington, January 6, 2021
More than three years after the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, the Department of Justice is continuing to pursue those who participated through hundreds of aggressive prosecutions. That includes Donald Trump, whose political future and personal freedom may depend on whether a jury believes he is to blame for the violence. But the intensity of the Biden DOJ's crackdown on Jan. 6 offenders has stirred controversy, drawn scrutiny from the Supreme Court in Fischer v. United States, and become a central focus of Trump's third presidential campaign. In this series, Riot revisited: Jan. 6, Justice, and Capitol Consequences, the Washington Examiner will look at the legal weaknesses in the DOJ's efforts to punish Jan. 6 rioters and the future of those cases should Trump reclaim the White House.

More than 1,265 defendants have been charged by the Department of Justice under President Joe Biden in relation to the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. Hundreds of them may have been wrongly charged with a felony.

The Supreme Court is preparing to weigh oral arguments on Tuesday in Fischer v. United States, a dispute that could drastically alter the indictments against possibly hundreds of defendants, including former President Donald Trump. The namesake of the case is Joseph Fischer, a former Pennsylvania police officer who was charged for his alleged participation in violence on the day of the riot.

X

UK insurers refuse to pay Nord Stream because blasts were 'government' backed

gas leak
© Swedish Coast Guard Handout/Anadolu Agency/Getty ImagesA screen grab from Danish Defense shows the gas leak from the exploded Nord Stream pipelines September 30, 2022
The legal team representing high-powered insurers Lloyd's and Arch says that since the Nord Stream explosions were "more likely than not to have been inflicted by... a government," they have no responsibility to pay for damages to the pipelines. To succeed with that defense, the companies will presumably be compelled to prove, in court, who carried out those attacks.

British insurers are arguing that they have no obligation to honor their coverage of the Nord Stream pipelines, which were blown up in September 2022, because the unprecedented act of industrial sabotage was likely carried out by a national government.

The insurers' filing contradicts reports the Washington Post and other legacy media publications asserting that a private Ukrainian team was responsible for the massive act of industrial sabotage.

A legal brief filed on behalf of UK-based firms Lloyd's Insurance Company and Arch Insurance states that the "defendants will rely on, inter alia, the fact that the explosion Damage could only have (or, at least, was more likely than not to have) been inflicted by or under the order of a government."

As a result, they argue, "the Explosion Damage was "directly or indirectly occasioned by, happening through, or in consequence of" the conflict between Russia and Ukraine" and falls under an exclusion relating to military conflicts.

Footprints

EU leadership must go - member state's PM

michel/leyen
© Kenzo Tribouillard/AFPEuropean Council President Charles Michel and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen
The current bosses in Brussels have failed in all of their major projects, Hungary's Viktor Orban has said...

The EU needs new leadership as the bloc's current top officials have proven entirely unsuccessful, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has claimed.

Orban made the comments at the European Parliament on Tuesday as part of a public discussion with Former Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and the leader of the French National Rally party, Fabrice Leggeri.

Hungarian prime minister insisted:
"Now we have a leadership in the EU with some major projects selected by themselves like green transition, RRF (Recovery and Resilience Facility) policy, migration, war [in Ukraine] and sanctions policy, and they all failed. The present leadership of the European Union must go away. And we need new leaders."
Orban said he intends "to come and take over Brussels," reiterating his earlier warning to "occupy" the EU's key institutions with his allies in order to bring change to the bloc.

Explosion

Erdogan blames Israel for Iranian attack

Erdogan
© Adem Altan/AFPTurkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Western hypocrisy helped bring about an escalation, the Turkish leader has said...

Iran's first direct attack on Israel is the fault of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu first and foremost, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said.

In a televised address after a cabinet meeting in Ankara, Erdogan said it was unfair to look at last Saturday's events in a vacuum:
"The one chiefly responsible for the tension that gripped our hearts on the evening of April 13 is Netanyahu and his bloody administration. Since October 7, the Israeli government has opted for provocative moves in order to spread the fire to the entire region. The Israeli government targeted the Iranian consulate in Damascus, violating international law and the Vienna Convention, and that was the last straw."
Tehran's diplomatic mission was struck on April 1, killing seven high-ranking officers of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, including two generals. Israel never officially claimed responsibility for the strike, but has repeatedly bombed Syria, claiming preemptive self-defense from the Iranian presence there.

"We have seen the double-standard approach of Western countries," Erdogan said, pointing out that only a handful of countries condemned Israel's move, but rushed to denounce Iran's response.

Attention

Israel grapples with its 'Suez moment'

New Psychos Greeted by Chief Psycho
© Indian PunchlineIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with newly drafted soldiers, Israel, April 16, 2024.
The United States' diplomatic initiative to issue a joint statement condemning Iran on its "Attack on the State of Israel" has ended in fiasco, as there were hardly any takers for it from outside of the western bloc of nations.

This is a crushing blow to American self-esteem. The unkindest cut of all is that Turkey, an important NATO power and a West Asian powerhouse, whom President Biden is personally wooing lately, refused to sign up on the joint statement.

The 8 defectors from the Global Majority who complied with the US diktat are two mavericks each from Latin America and the Eurasian region, South Korea and three Pacific island nations.

The entire Africa, West Asia, Central Asia, South Asia and the ASEAN region refused to associate with the US initiative! Of course, not a single Muslim country would touch the joint statement with a barge pole.

This tells a humiliating story of US isolation in the UN. The international community understands fully well the hypocrisy and the notorious doublespeak that characterises American diplomacy. In the emerging multipolar world, this awareness will inevitably translate as the propensity of the Global Majority to cherrypick.

The bottom line is that Iran did not attack Israel. Iran instead retaliated to a blatant attack by Israel against its sovereignty in violation of international law and the UN Charter, which was tantamount to an act of war.

More important, Iran's retaliation was restricted to Israeli military targets that were involved in the Damascus attack on April 1 and was patently aimed at demonstrating its deterrent capability in future to discourage Israel from climbing the escalation ladder any further — and, all this while taking care to avoid civilian casualties.

Mr. Potato

Chief storyteller: Biden claims 'cannibals' ate his uncle

Biden beach vacation satire
US President Joe Biden has claimed that an uncle of his who went missing in the Pacific during the Second World War was eaten by cannibals.

Second Lieutenant Ambrose Finnegan of the US Army Air Forces was declared missing in May 1944, after his light bomber crashed in the sea.

"He got shot down in an area where there were a lot of cannibals at the time," Biden told reporters on the campaign trail outside Air Force One in Scranton, Pennsylvania. "They never recovered his body, but the government went back when I went down there and they checked and found some parts of the plane."

Several hours later, at a meeting with United Steelworkers union members in Pittsburgh, Biden told the same story.

"He got shot down in New Guinea and they never found the body because there used to be - there were a lot of cannibals, for real, in that part of New Guinea," the 81-year-old Democrat said.

According to the Pentagon's agency for prisoners of war and missing in action (POW-MIA), Finnegan was never shot down, however. Nor was it on a reconnaissance mission, as Biden claimed.


Comment: Biden is a pathological liar who as time goes on is finding it harder and harder to distinguish between reality and fiction. As the White House keeps insisting there is nothing wrong with Joe's mental capacities, which means that one can not then excuse the lies as due to old age and dementia as some might like to. The record is also pretty clear that Joe has been lying all his life. It happens to be one though not the only tell-tell signs of psychopathy.


Star of David

Kiev demands Israel-style security guarantees

Andrey Yermak
© Maxym Marusenko / NurPhoto via Getty ImagesAndrey Yermak, the head of the Ukrainian presidential office.
Kiev wants security guarantees from its Western backers similar to the level of protection that the US provides Israel, President Vladimir Zelensky's chief of staff, Andrey Yermak, said on Wednesday.

The Ukrainian government is negotiating a series of treaties intended to seal the country's pro-Western alignment until it is granted full NATO membership. Officials in Kiev say the deals will secure long-term military assistance from the US and its allies, regardless of political changes that might otherwise prompt donors to cut the aid.

"An agreement between the US and Ukraine must work no worse than the American memorandum with Israel, the effectiveness of which was confirmed by joint actions of the allies during the deflection of the mass attack on Israel by Iran," Yermak wrote on social media.