Puppet MastersS


Smoking

Following the Nazi model, U.S. Secretary of Defense favors tobacco sales ban at military installations

Jon Harper
Stars and Stripes
Mon, 31 Mar 2014 09:20 UTC
smoking in US army bases
© Heather Johnson/U.S. Marines CorpsStudies show military members use tobacco at higher rates than same-age civilians
As the Navy considers banning tobacco sales on all bases and ships, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel gave a strong endorsement of the review Monday, and suggested that he would be in favor of a ban.

"I don't know if there's anybody in America who still thinks that tobacco is good for you," Hagel told reporters at the Pentagon in response to a question about the Navy review. "We don't allow smoking in any of our government buildings. Restaurants, states, [and] municipalities have pretty clear regulations on this. I think in reviewing any options that we have as to whether we in the military through commissaries [or] PXs sell or continue to sell tobacco is something we need to look at. And we are looking at it. And I think we owe it to our people."

Comment: Adolph Hitler: Vegetarian, teetotaler, anti-smoking campaigner

The devious plan of anti-smoking campaigns to control people and stop them from using their brain

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Chess

SOTT Focus: Geopolitics of Empire: Mackinder's Heartland Theory and the Containment of Russia

Niall Bradley
Sott.net
Wed, 02 Apr 2014 15:17 UTC
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"What has happened in Crimea is a response to the format that made Ukrainian democracy collapse. And there is only one reason for this: the anti-Russian policy of the US and some European countries. They seek to encircle Russia in order to weaken and eventually destroy it... There is a certain transnational elite that has been cherishing this dream for 300 years."

~ Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, 19 March 2014

"History does not repeat itself, but it does rhyme."

~ Attributed to Mark Twain
What's been happening in the Ukraine recently makes little sense without seeing it in broader geopolitical and historical contexts, so in my search for a firmer understanding of what's going on, I've been consulting the history books. First off, it needs to be said that the Ukraine is historically a part of Russia. It has been "an independent nation-state" in name since 1991, but has been completely dependent on external support ever since. And most of this "support" has not been in its best interest, to say the least.

The short answer to why the U.S. hatched its hare-brained scheme to overthrow Yanukoych last November is that its real target was Russia, which stands in the way of the plans for world domination by a banking elite whose empire is centered on the U.S. The longer answer is more complex, but in the process of working towards it we discover startling historical precedent for everything that is going on today, right down to the very rationales politicians give for why they do what they do.
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Bad Guys

N.Korea 'to Execute 200 Jang Song-taek Loyalists' - Some 1,000 members of their families could be sent to concentration camps under the North's barbaric system of guilt by association


The Chosunilbo
Fri, 11 Apr 2014 18:54 UTC
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Jang Song-taek
North Korea is poised to execute 200 high-ranking officials loyal to ousted eminence grise Jang Song-taek, a source said Tuesday. Some 1,000 members of their families could be sent to concentration camps under the North's barbaric system of guilt by association.

The source said the State Security Department has conducted a sweep to ferret out Jang's supporters after his execution in December last year and identified 200 core supporters and another 1,000 followers.

The department has authorization from the North's highest court to hold closed-door trials to deliver death sentences, the source added. This apparently aims to make it look as if proper procedure, to the extent that it exists at all, has been followed.
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Dollar

Arizona Republicans try to pump $1 mil into private prison for non-existent inmates


RT
Tue, 01 Apr 2014 00:15 UTC
jail
© AFP Photo / John Moore
Private prison company GEO Group coaxed around $1 million out of Arizona Republicans, despite assertions by the state Department of Corrections that the money is not needed based on the state's contract with GEO Group.

The last-minute funding attempt came late Friday, when Arizona House Appropriations Chairman John Kavanagh (R) added $900,000 into a budget proposal after GEO Group lobbyists convinced him that the company was not seeing enough profit from emergency inmate beds it supplies Arizona's prisons in Phoenix and Florence.

The funding addition, which must now win the state Senate's approval, comes despite GEO Group's established contract with the state for $45 million to hold minimum- and medium-security inmates in its 2,530 beds.

Doug Nick, spokesman for the Arizona Department of Corrections, told the Arizona Republic that the agency did not seek increased funding for GEO.

"We did not request it," Nick said. "We had nothing to do with it."
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Stock Down

Senior EU official: EU should avoid economic sanctions against Russia


RIA Novosti
Tue, 01 Apr 2014 17:11 UTC
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© Slovenia Times
The European Union should refrain from introducing broad economic sanctions against Russia if the situation around Ukraine does not deteriorate, European Commission Vice President Olli Rehn said Tuesday.

"No sensible European would want to see economic sanctions or any other escalation to the crisis. And in case Russia will not escalate the crisis, then we shall be able to avoid these sanctions," Rehn said.

After Crimea held a referendum on March 16 in which over 96 percent of voters supported seceding from Ukraine and rejoining Russia, the US and EU imposed targeted sanctions against a number of senior Russian officials.

The West has repeatedly warned Russia of economic pressure and international isolation if tensions over Ukraine continue to escalate.
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Attention

U.S. drone strike kills two in eastern Afghanistan; 10 severely injured


Press TV
Tue, 01 Apr 2014 18:23 UTC
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© AP
At least two people have been killed and several others severely injured in a fresh strike by a US killer drone in the troubled eastern Afghanistan, security sources say.

Local Afghan security officials said on Tuesday that the attack took place in volatile Kunar Province.

At least 10 others, including women, were also wounded in the deadly strike. The injured have been shifted to a local hospital to receive medical treatment.

Local security sources also said all the victims were members of the Taliban militant group. However, the militant group has not commented on the deaths yet.

US officials claim that the airstrikes target militants, but local sources say civilians have been the main victims of the attacks.
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People

Russian MPs recognize need to protect citizens from 'professional' protesters


RT
Tue, 01 Apr 2014 09:36 UTC
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© RIA Novosti/Vladimir Astapkovish
A group of MPs are seeking to introduce additional punishment for repeated violation of the law on rallies, saying there is a need to protect citizens from 'professional' protesters.

The amendments are being prepared by three State Duma deputies representing the conservative majority party United Russia and the center-left Fair Russia caucus.

The lawmakers have presented statistics showing the majority of trouble makers at rallies are repeated violators. According to Interior Ministry data, of 36 people who were detained for illegal protest in the Moscow city center on February 6 this year, 21 had been previously been found guilty of administrative offense. Two of these people had each violated the law on rallies 16 times. A similar situation occurred on February 24 - of the 49 detained for illegal protest, three had a record of over 10 convictions for the same offense.
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Snakes in Suits

NATO suspends civilian and military cooperation with Russia


RT
Tue, 01 Apr 2014 18:51 UTC
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© AFP Photo / John ThysA photo taken on April 1, 2014 shows a view of the Foreign Affairs meeting at the NATO headquarters in Brussels.
NATO has announced that it is suspending all military and civilian cooperation with Russia over the Ukrainian crisis, the bloc said in a joint statement.

"We have decided to suspend all practical civilian and military cooperation between NATO and Russia. Our political dialogue in the NATO-Russia Council can continue, as necessary, at the Ambassadorial level and above, to allow us to exchange views, first and foremost on this crisis," the statement reads. The alliance plans to review its relations with Russia at a meeting in June.

The decision could affect cooperation on Afghanistan in areas such as training counter-narcotics personnel, maintenance of Afghan air force helicopters and a transit route out of the war-torn country.

NATO foreign ministers also urged Moscow in "to take immediate steps ... to return to compliance with international law."

The bloc said that it was stepping up its cooperation with Ukraine, promoting defense reforms and increasing the activity of a liaison office in Kiev.
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Folder

Proposed overhaul to UK trespass law allow fracking firms access to land without permission

James Chapman
The Daily Mail
Tue, 01 Apr 2014 17:12 UTC
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Anger: Police tackle protesters at Balcombe, West Sussex, who were objecting to a test-drilling site there.
  • Scientists say UK is sitting on enough shale gas for 40 years' supply
  • But critics warn fracking can pollute water and could cause earthquakes
  • New rules will make it easier to fracking firms to ignore objections
Fracking firms will be allowed to access vast reserves of underground gas without the permission of landowners under controversial laws being drawn up by the Government.

Ministers are preparing an overhaul of trespass legislation to make it easier for firms to ignore objections.

One source said the reform, which will infuriate anti-fracking campaigners, was likely to be included in the Queen's Speech setting out the Government's plans for its final year.

Chancellor George Osborne is offering generous tax breaks to kickstart the technology. He believes fracking for shale gas could herald an energy revolution that will boost the economy, make Britain more self-sufficient and put an end to sky-high bills from greedy energy firms.

Comment: Obama tells EU to do more to cut reliance on Russian gas - Will give them U.S. supplies (...forget U.S. taxpayers)

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Stock Down

U.S. stock markets are rigged, sez author Michael Lewis

John McCrank
Reuters
Mon, 31 Mar 2014 18:45 UTC
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© REUTERS/CARLO ALLEGRIA Wall Street sign is pictured outside the New York Stock Exchange in New York, October 28, 2013.
The U.S. stock market is rigged in favor of high-speed electronic trading firms, which use their advantages to extract billions from investors, according to Michael Lewis, author of a new book on the topic, "Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt."

High-frequency trading (HFT) is a practice carried out by many banks and proprietary trading firms using sophisticated computer programs to send gobs of orders into the market, executing a small portion of them when opportunities arise to capitalize on price imbalances, or to make markets. HFT makes up more than half of all U.S. trading volume.

The trading methods and technology that make HFT possible are all legal, and the stock exchanges HFT firms trade on are highly regulated. But Lewis said these firms are using their speed advantage to profit at the expense of other market participants to the tune of tens of billions of dollars.

"They are able to identify your desire to buy shares in Microsoft and buy them in front of you and sell them back to you at a higher price," Lewis, whose book is available on Monday, said on the television program "60 Minutes" on Sunday.
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