Puppet Masters
Marko Djurich, Director of the Serbian Government Office for Kosovo and Metohija, condemned this latest act of violence, referring to it as "anti-civilizational," charging that displaced Kosovo Serbs have been "systematically prevented from marking Christian holidays in their villages" for years and that Albanian extremists "want to completely eradicate and suppress every memory related to the Serb existence" in that part of Serbia's breakaway province.
Dalibor Jevtich, one of the Serbs still living in Kosovo who has tried to work with the majority Albanian authorities, but who recently resigned as Kosovo Minister for Communities and Return, reacted similarly:

Sheldon Adelson has spent millions on backing Israel and attacking supporters of Palestinian rights in the US.
In 2015, the billionaire casino owner and Republican party funder Sheldon Adelson spent days in a Las Vegas courtroom watching his reputation torn apart and wondering if his gambling empire was facing ruin.
An official from Nevada's gaming control board sat at the back of the court listening to mounting evidence that Adelson bribed Chinese officials and worked with organised crime at his casinos in Macau - allegations that could have seen the magnate's Las Vegas casinos stripped of their licenses.
The case, a civil suit by a former manager of the Macau gaming operations who said he was fired for curbing corrupt practices, was another blow in a bad run for Adelson.
He had thrown $150m into a futile effort to unseat the "socialist" and "anti-Israel" Barack Obama in the 2012 election. His credibility as a political player was not enhanced by his backing of Newt Gingrich for president.
But three years on from the court case, Adelson's influence has never been greater.
The imprint of the 84-year-old's political passions is seen in an array of Donald Trump's more controversial decisions, including violating the Iran nuclear deal, moving the American embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, and appointing the ultra-hawkish John Bolton as national security adviser.
Comment: Well, that explains a lot, doesn't it?
- Did Trump appoint Bolton because Republicans desperately need Sheldon Adelson's money?
- Trump mega-donor Sheldon Adelson may bankroll US embassy's move to Jerusalem
- Casino mogul Sheldon Adelson to be questioned in Netanyahu probe
- Who is Trump's billionaire backer Sheldon Adelson? Committed to 'the Jewish people' and believes Palestinians are a 'made up people'
Austria has informed the United States that it was ready to host a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump, a source in the National Security Council at the White House told TASS.
"The Austrians have conveyed their willingness to host a meeting between President Trump and President Putin. And, although the two leaders have previously discussed the possibility of arranging a meeting, we have nothing to announce at this time," the source said.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman poses at La Moncloa palace in Madrid, Spain, on April 12, 2018
Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Saudi Arabia fell to just $1.4 billion last year, down from $7.5 billion in 2016 and some $12.2 billion in 2012, newly published data from the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) showed Thursday.
The massive failure in attracting international investment put Saudi Arabia behind much smaller countries like Oman and Jordan with FDIs of $1.9 billion and $1.7 billion respectively.
When reporters asked Macron on Thursday if the problem with Trump was that he "didn't care" about being isolated, Macron struck a hostile tone, reminding the media that no president "is forever."
"The six countries of the G7 without the United States, are a bigger market taken together than the American market," Macron said, standing alongside Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. "Maybe the American president doesn't care about being isolated today, but we don't mind being six, if needs be."
Comment: This is the example of a teamwork, but unfortunately the US is not a team player.
Hidden in the information are unredacted Strzok-Page texts that show the FBI initiated actions to insert multiple spies in the Trump campaign in December 2015.
Once again Internet sleuths unearthed damning evidence that the FBI was engaged in Spygate long before they let on.
Comment:
- It's confirmed: FBI was spying on Trump campaign
- The London-to-Langley spy ring: The roots of Obamagate become clearer
- Obama's FBI was spying on Trump campaign, so what did he know and when?
- Democrat, ex-CIA: The spies plotting against Trump are out of control, violating laws, breaking oaths, committing treason

Participants in Gaza’s Great March of Return on the eighth Friday of the demonstration.
What the Israelis have done over the past few weeks -- killing at least 112 and wounding over 13,000 people (332 with life-threatening injuries and 27 requiring amputation) -- is a historical crime that stands alongside the Sharpeville Massacre (69 killed), Bloody Sunday (14 killed), and the Birmingham Fire Hoses and Police Dog Repression as a defining moment in an ongoing struggle for justice and freedom. Like those events, this month's slaughter may become a turning point for what John Pilger correctly calls "the longest occupation and resistance in modern times" -- the continuing, unfinished subjugation of the Palestinian people, which, like apartheid and Jim Crow, requires constant armed repression and at least occasional episodes of extermination.
Razan was a 21-year-old from Khuzaa, a small Palestinian village located near Khan Yhunis in the southern Gaza Strip. On June 1st she was shot through the heart by an IDF sniper as she tended to others shot by IDF snipers at the marathon protests held along the Gaza concentration camp perimeter fence since late March. Her story - and thus the story of what is happening there in Gaza - has received negligible coverage in the Western media. And when it is covered, it is covered only sentimentally, without any real context.
In July 2014, Israel initiated another barbaric onslaught on the Gaza strip. Justified by the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teens, a gag order was placed on the media in order to prevent them from detailing the boys' fate while the IDF initiated a massive campaign of terror on the Palestinian people, and religious leaders whipped Israeli public opinion into a frenzy for blood.
With almost all votes counted for the weekend's parliamentary election, Jansa's Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) secured just under 25 percent of votes - giving it 25 seats in the 90-strong parliament.
The anti-establishment List of Marjan Sarec (LMS) party, headed by comedian-turned-politician Marjan Sarec, came second with 12.7 percent and 13 seats, the State Election Commission said Monday.
The Social Democrats, the Modern Center Party of outgoing Prime Minister Miro Cerar, and the Left garnered around 9 percent of votes each.
Comment: Even though, as a 'transit country, Slovenia isn't as hard hit by immigration as Greece or Italy who suffer the EU's unfair 'Dublin rule', clearly a majority still views mass migration as a serious problem. But then there are few countries left in the EU that aren't questioning the centralized, dictatorial and deleterious rule of Brussels:
- Cycles of History: 2018 brings echoes of Europe's nationalist rebellions of 1848
- Where European populism is going in 2018
- Italy's Salvini slams Soros who's "profited from the deaths of hundreds of people"
- German town's 'pro-refugee' mayor calls moratorium amidst Merkels struggle to form coalition
- Meet Laura Huhtasaari, Finnish election candidate who wants out of EU, end to mass migration, supports Trump
- Behind the Headlines: 'Quitaly' Highlights EU's Democratic Crisis
- The Truth Perspective: Weapons of Mass Migration: Interview with Michael Springmann on Europe's Migrant Crisis
This is a signal that Iran will not comply with the JPCOA if it collapses. Tehran wants European banks to take the risk and safeguard trade. Oil sales must be guaranteed and the losses resulting from US sanctions must be compensated by Brussels. The demand for new negotiations on ballistic missile program and regional policy must be abandoned as these issues are not related to the JPCOA.
The EU is trying to preserve the agreement but it's hard to see how private companies could be convinced to deal with Tehran running the risk of American punitive measures. Peugeot, Total, Italy's Danieli have already halted or are preparing to halt their ties with Iran.












Comment: Further reading: George Galloway: The NATO virus is spreading