Puppet MastersS


Megaphone

'What you do on your cell phone is none of their damned business!': Rand Paul thrills libertarians and unites CPAC against NSA

David Martosko
Daily Mail
Sat, 08 Mar 2014 16:18 UTC
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Sen. Rand Paul has been a consensus favorite at the Conservative Political Action Conference, dominating hallways with 'I Stand With Rand' posters and creating a horde of giddy young acolytes.
  • Paul, a Kentucky senator, got the Conservative Political Action Conference's loudest applause with a libertarian message
  • He railed against President Obama for allowing the National Security Agency to seize millions of Americans' phone records with a single warrant
  • Paul is seen as a major 2016 presidential contender
  • The CPAC even has heard from other crowd favorites Ted Cruz, Chris Christie, Rick Santorum and Donald Trump
  • Paul sued the Obama administration, and the president personally, in February over the alleged NSA abuses
A sustained noise that could best be called a hoot and holler greeted Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul at the mention of his name, before he took the stage at Friday's Conservative Political Action Conference and declared that cell phone records sought by government agencies were 'none of their damned business!'

By the time he launched into his blue streak against the National Security Agency and quoted Pink Floyd to criticize President Barack Obama, the overflow crowd of thousands sounded like Beyonce concertgoers who had stumbled into the wrong ballroom.
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Dollar

Flashback Ukraine signs $10 billion shale gas deal with Chevron

Pavel Polityuk and Richard Balmforth
Reuters
Tue, 05 Nov 2013 09:11 UTC
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© REUTERS/MYKHAILO MARKIV/UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS(L-R, front) Chevron Exploration and Production Europe Derek Magness, Ukraine's Energy Minister Eduard Stavytsky, Chairman of the National Joint Stock Company ''Nadra Ukrayny'' Viktor Ponomarenko, (L-R, back) U.S. Ambassador Jeffrey Payette, Ukraine's President Viktor Yanukovich and President of Chevron Europe, Eurasia and Middle East Exploration and Production James Johnson attend a signing ceremony in Kiev, November 5, 2013.
Ukraine signed a $10 billion shale gas production-sharing agreement with U.S. Chevron (CVX.N) on Tuesday, another step in a drive for more energy independence from Russia.

The deal to develop its western Olesska field followed a similar shale gas agreement with Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) in January and boosts Ukraine's leadership at a time of fraught relations with Moscow over gas supplies.
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Stormtrooper

Flashback Neo-Nazis beat, handcuffed governor of Ukrainian region to make him resign‏


RT
Thu, 20 Feb 2014 10:57 UTC
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© Reuters/Petro KrivosheyVolyn Region Governor Alexander Bashkalenko (2nd L, front) stands on the stage after he was captured by anti-government protesters during a rally in the town of Lutsk in northwestern Ukraine, February 19, 2014.
A governor of a western Ukrainian region who tried to calm down a raging mob of rioters was severely beaten and handcuffed to a protest stage. His family could also be under threat as insurgents are reportedly looking for them.

When a 30,000-strong mob attempted to storm regional police headquarters in the city of Lutsk in the Volyn region of western Ukraine, Governor Aleksandr Bashkalenko sided with law enforcement and tried to uphold the law.

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Light Sabers

Documentary: Crimea: Unmasking Revolution


RT
Fri, 07 Mar 2014 19:30 UTC
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© AFP PhotoPro-Russian activists wave a Russian flag during their rally in the western Crimean city of Yevpatoria on March 5, 2014.
From the late 18th century Crimea was a part of Russia; that was until 1954 when Soviet Leader Nikita Khrushchev issued a decree transferring the small Black Sea peninsular from Russia to Ukraine, which was still a part of the USSR. Crimea is, to this day, mostly populated by Russians, though there are also many Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars. The current situation on the peninsula is tense and complicated; people are divided Some want Crimea to return to being a part of Russia, others support an undivided Ukraine, while self-determination is a dream for others still. A referendum on Crimea's future status will take place on March 16, 2014. RT sent a camera crew to Crimea to hear directly from some residents of this troubled part of the world.
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Handcuffs

EU-ECB-IMF troika tells Greece: We're witholding the next loan tranche until you squeeze the people more


Voice of Russia
Mon, 10 Mar 2014 07:31 UTC
Greek bail-out
© EPA

The Greek government and the international creditors - the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund - have failed to agree on a bailout loan tranche ahead of the Eurogroup meeting on Monday, local media say.

The three inspectors are to return to Athens on Wednesday, and hopes are that the parties will be able to agree on the next tranche by March 16. The monitors will assess the extent of financial aid to the debt-stricken southern EU nation based on the state of its economy and its commitment to requirements that are sine qua non of the loan deal, but major issues still appear to be unresolved.

Greece hopes for a cash injection of $10.1 billion, something it will never get without the green light from inspectors.

Comment: The EU has money for Ukraine but no money for the countries in crises within the Union. Those in Ukraine who are dreaming of a standard of living like those of the countries in the EU should look at Greece and ask if that is what they are after. In any case that is what the EU and the IMF has in stall for Ukraine.

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Popcorn

Ukraine crisis: Chinese president Xi Jinping tells Obama and Merkel that they must pursue a political solution


Guardian
Mon, 10 Mar 2014 06:24 UTC
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© Spencer Platt/Getty ImagesPro-Russian supporters drive through the streets of Simferopol, Ukraine after a rally on Sunday. Photograph
Beijing leader tells Obama and Merkel that they must pursue a political solution to 'extremely complex' situation.

Chinese president Xi Jinping has urged a political solution to the crisis in Ukraine and for all parties to exercise calm and restraint, during separate telephone calls with US president Barack Obama and German chancellor Angela Merkel.

"The situation in Ukraine is extremely complex, and what is most urgent is for all sides to remain calm and exercise restraint to avoid an escalation in tensions," China's foreign ministry on Monday cited Xi as telling Obama.

"Political and diplomatic routes must be used to resolve the crisis," Xi added.
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Mr. Potato

Obama comes out against self-determination when it is against the wishes of the elite

Paul Craig Roberts
Institute for Political Economy
Mon, 10 Mar 2014 06:33 UTC
Knock knock Crimea
© Unknown
The White House Fool has repeatedly declared erroneously and foolishly that it is "against international law" for Crimea to exercise self-determination. Self-determination, as used by Washington, is a propaganda term that serves Washington's empire but is not permissible for real people to exercise. On March 6 Obama telephoned Putin to tell the Russian President again that only Washington has the right to interfere in Ukraine and to insist against all logic that only the
"government" in Kiev installed by the Washington-organized coup is "legitimate" and "democratic."
In other words, the elected government in Crimea pushed by the people in Crimea to give them a vote on their future is "undemocratic" and "illegitimate," but a non-elected government in Kiev imposed by Washington is the voice of self-determination and legitimacy.

Washington is so arrogant that it never occurs to the hubris-infected fools what the world thinks of Washington's blatant hypocrisy.

Since the Clinton regime, Washington has done nothing but violate international law - Serbia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Iran, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Honduras, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia.

Does Russia have an Africa Command? No, but Washington does.
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Cut

Qatar out in the cold: Muslim Brotherhood divides Gulf Cooperation Council


Voltaire Network
Mon, 10 Mar 2014 06:20 UTC
Leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi.
© UnknownLeader of the Muslim Brotherhood, Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi.
Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates severed diplomatic relations with Qatar, March 5, 2014. They are also soon expected to ban Qatar Airways from overflying their territory, which will not fail to cause serious financial losses to the Emirate. In addition to closing the Saudi-Qatari border, which is the only land entry to the Emirate.

The three States slammed Qatar for backing a coup attempt by the Muslim Brotherhood in the UAE in November 2013, and for continuing its subversive action via Al-Jazeera even though the Emir Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani had made a written commitment in Kuwait not to interfere in the internal affairs of his neighbors. Indeed, on February 22, the Qatari channel broadcast an incendiary sermon by its spiritual counselor and leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi.
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USA

John Kerry laughs about illegal NSA Surveillance and his massive wealth


Sott.net
Mon, 10 Mar 2014 06:09 UTC
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John Kerry's 'humor': The conscienceless psychopath kind.
Like Obama and Bush before him, John Kerry used the opportunity of his appearance at the annual Gridiron dinner, a gathering of journalists and public figures, to crack jokes about serious, and often deadly, US government policies and the immense wealth of the political elite.

At the White House Correspondents' Dinner at the Washington Hilton on May 1, 2010, Obama joked about military drones killing people.

At the annual Radio and Television Correspondents Dinner in 2004, George 'Dubya' Bush displayed slides on a giant screen with him "humorously" looking for Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction around the White House. At least 1.5 million Iraqi civilians died as a result of the US invasion of Iraq that was justified on the "trumped up charge" of Iraq having WMDs.

At the time, John Kerry. who would soon challenge Bush for the presidency, said that the joke displayed a "stunningly cavalier" attitude.
"If George Bush thinks his deceptive rationale for going to war is a laughing matter, then he's even more out of touch than we thought. Unfortunately for the president, this is not a joke."
Since then however, Mr. Kerry appears to have lost his ability to sense bad taste.

Kerry, a former senator and 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, joked in his Gridiron Dinner speech two nights ago about revelations of government spying on people including journalists, saying it was "so nice to put faces to the metadata", referring to the illegal mass collection of data on US and world citizens by the NSA.
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Light Saber

Hegemonial backlash: The axis of hope: Beijing to Beirut, via Moscow, Tehran and Damascus

André Chamy
Voltaire Network
Mon, 10 Mar 2014 05:44 UTC
Doku Umarov
© UnknownDoku Umarov, the Emir of Al- Qaeda in the North Caucasus, was responsible for crippling Russia during the Olympic Games in Sochi, while NATO changed the regime in Ukraine.
The U.S. strategy, devised by Zbigniew Brzezinski, using support for Islamist obscurantism to fight both progressive Muslim policies and against Russia, sparked an alliance to resist it. Now, China, Russia, Iran, Syria and Hezbollah are forced to stick together to survive. Ultimately observed André Charny, the trap has sprung on those who set it.

Islam against Islam ...

Iran, Syria and Lebanon thanks to Hezbollah and its allies, considered by Westerners for years to be a source of evil because of their support for what they call "terrorism" have not finished being talked about. After individual treatment for each of them according to political divisions in the region, an axis has set itself up that starts at the gates of Russia and China to end at those of Tel Aviv.

This axis is rooted in Western politicies reserved for this region. The United States, followed by major Western countries, have declared how its economic interests must be preserved at all costs. This biased policy has generated tensions over the years, the source of armed conflicts and street fights that incessantly feed the televised news.

This policy, enshrined for some time, was implemented with the support of local stakeholders. However, an acceleration took place after the fall of the Berlin Wall, lived as an historical event, which it obviously was, but that marked the advent of an aggressive and contemptuous strategy toward the Middle East.
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