Puppet Masters
Excerpts from an upcoming book by Washington Post reporters Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker describe how, in the aftermath of the 2020 election, as Trump disputed Joe Biden's victory, Milley, the nation's highest military officer, summoned the rest of the Pentagon's top brass to discuss the possibility of Trump attempting to use them in a "coup" attempt to stay in power.
Milley, according to the excerpts seen by CNN, drew on numerous World War II cliches, comparing Trump's rhetoric of a 'rigged' election to "the gospel of the Fuhrer," his supporters to the Nazi "brownshirts," and Trump himself as "the classic authoritarian leader with nothing to lose."
As Milley and his deputies discussed the possibility of Trump's supporters directly attacking Washington DC, he flexed his military muscles. "They may try, but they're not going to f**king succeed," he reportedly said. "You can't do this without the military. You can't do this without the CIA and the FBI. We're the guys with the guns."

Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan (R)
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (L)
Unbeknownst to most in the West, the United Arab Emirates has been expanding its network of power throughout the Middle East and even beyond, to the point where its Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Zayed seriously contests the power of Saudi Arabia's Mohammed Bin Salman.
In the past weeks a dispute between Saudi Arabia and the UAE began when an OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) plan set out a new 2022 schedule during which there would be a prolonged reduction in oil output. The UAE quickly lashed out, publicly calling the plan "unfair" and sparking retaliatory rhetoric from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Under an OPEC+ (OPEC plus ten other oil-producing states) proposal, still in dispute, Saudi Arabia would have to cut its oil production by 5% and the UAE by 18%. The UAE fired back, declaring that the market is in need of higher oil production, due to a decline in prices, which comes as a result of the reduction in energy usage and international travel.
This spat between Persian Gulf powers may seem relatively inconsequential to the average western onlooker, but the implications have already been significant, with a six-year high in oil prices coming as a result. Although they seem to be moving towards an agreement, it is likely that the two allies will soon again be at loggerheads, as their proxy forces in Yemen wage war upon each other.
On Sunday thousands of Cubans swarmed the streets of Havana amid ongoing blackouts, food shortages and rising prices. Increasing COVID infections have strained the island's healthcare system and put medical care at a standstill. The protests are the largest of their kind in over a decade. In turn, the government began a crackdown. More than 100 activists and journalists are reportedly in custody. One male protester was shot in his home on Wednesday during a police raid. Facebook and Twitter played a crucial role in allowing the rest of the world to witness the unrest — so of course the Cuban government has banned those platforms in the last 72 hours.
Almost unanimously, GOP lawmakers in the last few days have thrown their support behind the anti-communist protesters, including Sen Ted Cruz of Texas, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and 2024 hopeful Florida governor Ron DeSantis.
In an interview with The Spectator, journalist Glenn Greenwald broke down why he believes 'America First' conservatives should reevaluate their support for Cuba's protests. The Intercept co-founder argues that conservatives with nationalistic tendencies should prioritize American domestic policy without embroiling themselves in foreign conflicts.
According to the National Defense Management Center, Moscow detected three targets approaching the state border. Four planes - two MiG-31 and two Su-35 fighters - were scrambled to escort the American aircraft.
"The Russian fighter crews identified the aerial targets as B-52H strategic bombers of the US Air Force Global Strike Command and escorted them over the waters of the Bering Sea," the center said.
After the bombers turned around, the Russian fighters returned to their home airfield, and there was no reported violation of state borders.
The Boeing B-52 bomber, also known as the Stratofortress, is a long-range, jet-powered plane first introduced in the 1950s.
Last week, Russia's Ministry of Defense scrambled two Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jets after a US Navy Boeing P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft flew over the Black Sea, approaching the country's border during NATO's Sea Breeze multinational naval exercise.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin recently approved a Capitol Police request for eight Persistent Surveillance Systems Ground - Medium (PSSG-M) units. The system provides high-definition surveillance video and is enabled with night vision. The system does not include facial recognition capabilities. The Pentagon said:
"This technology will be integrated with existing USCP camera infrastructure, providing greater high definition surveillance capacity to meet steady-state mission requirements and help identify emerging threats."The technology allowed U.S. troops fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to monitor large areas 24/7 through extremely high-resolution cameras.
Some privacy rights advocates have raised concern that Capitol Police are getting into the business of spying on Americans.
In a statement issued on Thursday, one of Moscow's top diplomatic representatives, ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, blasted American "impudence" for suggesting that the demonstrations were a result of the Cuban government's own mistakes. Instead, she described the approach a part of "yet another political staging."
"Washington's cynicism is shown by the fact that throughout the entire period of the existence of revolutionary Cuba, it purposefully pursued a strategy of strangling the country, discriminating against its people and destroying the economy. Their thinking here is simple - it has already been repeatedly deployed by Washington in different situations. But in every case, there is the same goal - sparking 'color revolutions' in response to unwanted regimes."The approach, the official added, hinges on applying sanctions and provoking tensions by worsening the socio-economic situation in the country.
Comment: Psychopathic diplomacy: The tyrant and its prey.
The 29 June episode of The Long View was presented by Jonathan Freedland. He looked at the history of state-sponsored hijackings following a recent well-documented incident in Belarusian air space, involving a Ryanair plane en route from the Greek capital, Athens.
"There is a big nasty complex game being played behind the scenes to make the articles say what somebody wants them to say," Sanger said this week, blasting the current community culture at Wikipedia. "There are all kinds of tricks that people can play to 'win' it."
Sanger, who launched — along with Jimmy Wales — the world's premier website for reference materials, has become a vocal critic of his brainchild. He jokingly called himself "ex-founder," referring to both his criticism and Wikipedia's attempts to distance itself from his person. This week he talked about what he sees as a problematic change in the online encyclopedia to Freddie Sayers, the host of UnHerd magazine's show Lockdown TV.
Comment:
- Larry Sanger is right, Wikipedia is now the establishment thought police - just look at my entry on there
- Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger says online encyclopedia scrapped neutrality, favors lefty politics
- Wikipedia exposed: Bullying and harassment tactics of activist editors in a wiki war- a case study
- Citing Wikipedia's capture by the left, site's co-founder launching free-speech-friendly competitor

The Greek-Cypriot fishing port of Kato Pyrgos lies on a remote section of the island's north coast close to the UN-patrolled ceasefire line with the breakaway Turkish-Cypriot north
The Cyprus government said it was preparing a protest to the United Nations over the incident, which it said was the first of its kind.
But a Turkish diplomatic source denied that either the Turkish or the Turkish Cypriot coastguard had fired on any Greek Cypriot vessel.

Was Yair Lapid (left) acting as a salesperson for Israel’s weapons when he visited Europe this week?
Israel's foreign minister was on a mission to "reboot" relations with Europe.
But behind his fresh facade lurked something rotten and sinister.
Lapid wasn't simply visiting to charm those EU representatives who are always impressed by smartly dressed liberals. He also paid a trip to the headquarters of NATO, a military alliance dominated by the US.
Comment: Elbit's UK plant has been a particular target of that country's Palestine support groups:
- Palestinian activists slam UK arms company over profiting from Israeli war crimes
- Courageous UK protest group 'shuts down' factory that supplies Israel arms
Disrupting the root of Israeli military power is a focus in other countries too:
Elbit's capabilities have only grown from 2014:












Comment: Trump is America's greatest unappreciated comedian: