Puppet Masters

Trump hopes Iran submits without a fight, Bolton wants war; Philip Giraldi, Dr. Paul Craig Roberts share their concerns

Ekaterina Bilnova
Sputnik
Thu, 16 May 2019 17:00 UTC

The US is increasing pressure against Iran, prompting concerns that the ongoing war of words may translate into an armed conflict.

Former Reagan administration official Dr Paul Craig Roberts and CIA veteran Philip Giraldi have shared their concerns over the US administration officials' apparent attempt to ignite a clash in the region. Tensions continue to simmer in the Persian Gulf, with the war of words between Iran and the US heating up.

On 15 May, Iranian Defence Minister Amir Hatami stated that Tehran had "the highest level of defence-military preparedness to confront any type of threat" from the US and Israel. The statement came on the heels of reports of a US military build-up in region.

"The US is putting pressure on Iran by the build-up", opined Philip Giraldi, a former CIA counter-terrorism specialist and military intelligence officer. "[Donald] Trump believes that it will make Iran submit without any fighting, but Bolton wants an incident of some kind to happen to start a war".

Tulsi Gabbard: President Trump must avoid 'very stupid and costly war' with Iran

RT
Thu, 16 May 2019 18:22 UTC

Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard came out swinging against a possible conflict with Iran, slamming President Donald Trump for allowing war hawks to run his administration.

The president is "on the brink of launching a very stupid and costly war with Iran" and must be stopped, she said in a campaign video tweeted out Thursday, adding that Trump is going back on promises to stay out of such conflicts.

Comment: See also:

Totalitarian? Media collude to censor Christchurch mosque shooter trial, spare public the details, follow PM's lead

Igor Ogorodnev
RT
Wed, 01 May 2019 15:42 UTC

© REUTERS
Brenton Tarrant, whose face cannot be shown due to a court order, and whose words likely won't be cited either.

Opposing New Zealand's press restrictions on the coverage of Brenton Tarrant's trial is not some abstract free speech argument, it's about reining in a media that thinks it knows what's best for the public.

The country's five major media corporations responsible for the coverage of the proceedings against the man accused of killing 50 people during the March 15 shootings at two Christchurch mosques, have signed a voluntary "indefinite" protocol "to limit any coverage of statements that actively champion white supremacist or terrorist ideology."

The outlets will not cite excerpts from the gunman's manifesto, 'The Great Replacement', they will not quote anything he says in support of his actions, and if he does a raised-arm salute or perhaps even the OK sign (the neo-Nazi gesture du jour) these can only be shown in pixelated form.

This has been widely received as an unequivocally virtuous gesture - "not giving the extremist a platform" is being treated as a win for ethics over typical media salaciousness.

Instead, the audiences of these media outlets should feel alarmed and insulted. The New Zealand media evidently holds the public in such dubious regard that it believes that we could not be trusted to make up our own minds on the merits of an ideology propagated by a mentally unbalanced fitness trainer who committed one of the least-justifiable acts of violence against innocents in recent memory.

Comment: See also:

'Envy of the world' or 2020 campaign pitch? Trump's immigration plan targets both

RT
Thu, 16 May 2019 21:59 UTC

President Donald Trump has unveiled a sweeping proposal to overhaul legal immigration to make the US "envy of the world," but basically admitted it amounts to a Republican campaign platform for 2020.

The proposal, reportedly authored principally by Trump's adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner, envisions changes to asylum laws in order to prevent abuses of loopholes by migrants crossing the southern border illegally, as well as overhauling the issuance of "green cards" on a merit-based points system, including a requirement that immigrants learn English and pass a civics test.

"This is the big, beautiful, bold plan," Trump said at the White House Rose Garden on Thursday, adding adding that it would be nice to have something on a smaller scale implemented sooner.

Comment: RT, 5/17/2019 Trump warns 'Don't get comfortable!' Record detentions, migrants will be 'sent home'

Donald Trump has called on Democrats to vote for his immigration reform to fix the 'National Emergency" on the US' border with Mexico, saying that migrants are being detained in record numbers to be repatriated.

In a string of tweets Friday morning, Trump again promised a crack down on illegal immigration, announcing that serious measures were already being taken by border patrol to curb the crisis.

Aside from current measures, he also said that the country's "removal forces" would be beefed up, and that laws would be changed in order to assure that those coming in illegally will be "removed from our Country."

Trump dossier taken 'seriously' but 'not necessarily literally', says ex-top FBI lawyer James Baker

Jerry Dunleavy
Washington Examiner
Wed, 15 May 2019 05:52 UTC

Former FBI General Counsel James Baker is defending the FBI's handling of the Trump dossier, saying "we took it seriously" but "we didn't necessarily take it literally" and did not treat it as "literally true in every respect."

The dossier, packed with salacious and unverified claims about President Trump's ties to Russia, was written by British ex-spy Christopher Steele and formed a key part of the FISA applications used to justify surveillance warrants against former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.

Sitting down with Yahoo News' Michael Isikoff and Daniel Klaidman for a Skullduggery podcast released on Wednesday, Baker said the FBI treated the dossier as "something that we were obligated to deal with and obligated to assess. He did not provide any details on what, if anything, the FBI verified in the dossier.

Comment: James Baker's interview with Andrea Mitchell:

Spending binge: Israeli settlements funding sky-rocketed with Trump

Aljazeera
Wed, 15 May 2019 00:00 UTC

Israel's government went on a spending binge on its illegal West Bank settlements following the election of US President Donald Trump, according to official data obtained by AP news agency.

The government statistics, released by Israel's finance ministry, showed Israeli spending in the West Bank in 2017, Trump's first year in office, rose to about $459m, from about $330m in 2016. The 2017 figures were the highest in the 15 years of data provided by the finance ministry, though spending also climbed in 2016.

At the time, President Barack Obama, a vocal critic of the settlements, had cool relations with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In contrast, the lowest year of Israeli spending was 2009, when both Netanyahu and Obama took office, when it was about $210m.

Hagit Ofran, a researcher with the anti-settlement monitoring group Peace Now, said it appeared that Trump's election had emboldened Israel's pro-settler government. "They are not shy any more with what they are doing," she said. "They feel more free to do whatever they want."

Nabil Abu Rdeneh, spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, offered even sharper criticism. "This proves that the current US administration encouraged settlement activities," he said.

Since capturing the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war, Israel has settled about 700,000 of its citizens in the two areas, which are considered occupied territory under international law.

Comment: See also:

'We fight too many wars!' Reverend Jesse Jackson denounces US militarism after Venezuelan embassy raid

RT
Fri, 17 May 2019 00:57 UTC

Renowned American civil rights activist Rev. Jesse Jackson has spoken out against US militaristic foreign policy after delivering food supplies to peace activists at the Venezuelan embassy in DC before their forceful eviction.

The arrest of four remaining activists from the so-called Venezuelan Embassy Protection Collective on Thursday by police will not change people's resolve to protest against an American foreign policy which simply disregards the laws and sovereignty of other nations, Jackson told RT after visiting the embassy site on Wednesday. He announced:

"We are going to have a major demonstration in front of the embassy on this coming Sunday. It will be focused not only on Venezuela but also on Yemen and North Korea and on South and Latin America. We want the conflict in Venezuela to be resolved. We want both sides to come to the common table and work out a solution to let people live in peace."

Stressing that the US has repeatedly violated international law, citing examples of American wars in Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq, as well as the US support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen, Rev. Jackson called on peace activists to "intensify struggle" in an effort to change the US' foreign policy.

"We fight too many wars. We choose too much fighting instead of talking," he stressed. "People must protest that because if they can violate this [international] law they can violate another."

Comment: See also:

Train derailed: Trump Administration cancels $929M in California high speed rail funds, appeal rejected

David Shepardson
Reuters
Thu, 16 May 2019 03:02 UTC

The Trump administration said on Thursday it was formally cancelling $929 million in previously awarded funding for California's high-speed rail program after rejecting an appeal by the state.

The U.S. railway regulator, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), said on Thursday it had canceled the funding awarded in a 2010 agreement after it said the state had "repeatedly failed to comply" and "failed to make reasonable progress on the project."

In a statement, the FRA said it was still considering "all options" on seeking the return of $2.5 billion in federal funds the state has already received.

The decision is the latest salvo in an ongoing battle between the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump and California over a series of issues including immigration, vehicle emissions standards and internet policy.

The largest U.S. state has repeatedly sued the Trump administration and officials expect the state will sue over the rescinding of rail funding.

Comment: See also:

Syria: Nusra Front terrorists plot to frame Russians with false flag provocation

Sputnik
Fri, 17 May 2019 05:45 UTC

Terrorists are planning to film imitation of Syrians getting poisoned next to Russian shrapnel and spread the video online in western media, Russian military reported.

Militants of the Nusra Front terror group are preparing to stage a false-flag provocation in Syria's Idlib province to frame the Russian Aerospace Forces for allegedly attacking civilians with chemical weapons, the Russian Defence Ministry said on Friday. The ministry's Center for Syrian Reconciliation stated:

"According to residents of the Serakab settlement, in this area, Nusra Front militants are preparing a provocation with poisonous chemical substances and fragments of Russian aviation munition... The provocation is aimed at accusing the Russian Aerospace Forces of allegedly using 'chemical weapons' against civilians in the Idlib province."

The militants were planning to film the alleged poisoning of civilians next to the fragments of the Russian munition to subsequently spread the footage across social platforms and western media outlets, the military added.

"The information received by the Reconciliation Center from the residents of the Serakab settlement has been checked and confirmed with another independent source," the statement added.

Adiós gringo? Russia, Venezuela negotiate swap-out of US dollar for ruble in bilateral trade

RT
Fri, 17 May 2019 13:19 UTC

Caracas is in talks with Moscow over the possibility of using the Russian ruble in mutual trade settlements and abandoning dollar transactions, according to Venezuela's representative to the UN office in Geneva Jorge Valero.

The ambassador added that the countries are also discussing the use of Venezuelan state-sponsored oil-backed cryptocurrency El Petro, launched last year. Caracas pegged the value of the petro to the price of one barrel of Venezuelan oil. The government also pegged Venezuela's national currency, the bolivar, to El Petro last summer.

Numerous sanctions introduced against Venezuela by the US have forced the Bolivarian Republic to stop using the dollar for its international transactions. It switched to the euro last October. In addition, the country started swapping crude oil for imported products.

Venezuela is currently trying to get over one of the worst economic crises in history with hyperinflation heading for 10,000,000 percent this year, according to the forecast by the International Monetary Fund.

Great job guys! 'We're looking at impending utopia." Sure. Provided you're stoked to live in a one room pod eating bug juice, after being vaxed...

Rowan Cocoan

A Fox News host (Lisa Booth) asking some of the right questions (nothing new if you're not new to the ranks of SOTTypes though). Her spiel begins...

Animanarchy

I've got a LOT of rope. Just let me know.

DeliciousTears

Brand new JP Sears video. Spiritual People Then vs Now: [Link]

Animanarchy

Well, if anyone would know a 'rigger', it's Obomber. The democratic party is filled with riggers, as the last 'election' amply demonstrated.......

Winston Smith

Puppet Masters

Trump hopes Iran submits without a fight, Bolton wants war; Philip Giraldi, Dr. Paul Craig Roberts share their concerns

Tulsi Gabbard: President Trump must avoid 'very stupid and costly war' with Iran

Totalitarian? Media collude to censor Christchurch mosque shooter trial, spare public the details, follow PM's lead

'Envy of the world' or 2020 campaign pitch? Trump's immigration plan targets both

Trump dossier taken 'seriously' but 'not necessarily literally', says ex-top FBI lawyer James Baker

Spending binge: Israeli settlements funding sky-rocketed with Trump

'We fight too many wars!' Reverend Jesse Jackson denounces US militarism after Venezuelan embassy raid

Train derailed: Trump Administration cancels $929M in California high speed rail funds, appeal rejected

Syria: Nusra Front terrorists plot to frame Russians with false flag provocation

Adiós gringo? Russia, Venezuela negotiate swap-out of US dollar for ruble in bilateral trade

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