Puppet Masters

Italy and France call for 'profound' changes to EU asylum rules - African asylum processing centers

Clare Byrne and Laurence Benhamou
Yahoo News
Fri, 15 Jun 2018 16:27 UTC

France and Italy on Friday called on the European Union to set up asylum processing centres in Africa to prevent "voyages of death" by migrants across the Mediterranean, in a crisis that has divided Europe.

At a meeting in Paris President Emmanuel Macron and Italy's new premier Giuseppe Conte also called for "profound" changes to the EU's asylum rules, which put the migrant burden on their port of entry to Europe -- mainly Italy and Greece.

The two leaders were at pains to put on a united front after a bitter row this week between Macron and the new populist government in Rome over Italy's rejection of a rescue boat with hundreds of migrants on board.

The clash underscores deep splits in Europe over how to handle the massive influx of migrants from across the Mediterranean in recent years.

In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel is embroiled in a showdown with the right wing of her governing coalition, which is demanding that she immediately ditch her liberal migration policy and tighten border controls.

Conte called for "European protection centres" to process asylum claims in migrants' countries of origin -- currently mainly Africa -- "before their arrival in Europe".

Petrodollar, Trade Deficit and Tariff: What is Trump Doing?

Chris Kanthan
Sott.net
Fri, 15 Jun 2018 18:25 UTC

"The Chinese are raping us" and "Canada is killing our farmers"! Such melodramatic claims from Trump resonate with many Americans, because the effects of globalization have been devastating for half the population. To his credit, Trump has been harping on trade deficit for thirty years - he was complaining about the Japanese in the 1980s. However, he's vastly oversimplifying the issue and the solutions. This is an important topic that requires serious thought.

Trump tweet: Justice Dept report a disaster for 'Comey and his minions'

RT
Fri, 15 Jun 2018 15:55 UTC

President Donald Trump lashed out at former FBI Director James Comey, as well as two FBI officials, after the Justice Department Inspector General's report criticized the agency's handling of the Hillary Clinton email probe.

"The IG Report is a total disaster for Comey, his minions and sadly, the FBI. Comey will now officially go down as the worst leader, by far, in the history of the FBI. I did a great service to the people in firing him. Good Instincts. Christopher Wray will bring it proudly back!" Trump tweeted on Friday.

Comment:

Jewish supremacy: Israeli MP says Jewish race is the best in pro-Netanyahu talk

RT
Fri, 15 Jun 2018 14:22 UTC

The 'Jewish race' is the smartest in the world and possesses the highest human capital, so Israelis ought to be skeptical about the current corruption probes into Israel's PM Benjamin Netanyahu, a Likud party lawmaker has claimed.

"I can tell you something very basic," MK Miki Zohar said, during a debate on Radio 103FM on Wednesday, as cited by the Times of Israel: "You can't fool the Jews, no matter what the media writes. The public in Israel is a public that belongs to the Jewish race, and the entire Jewish race is the highest human capital, the smartest, the most comprehending."

Citing opinion polls showing widespread support for Netanyahu, Zohar said that statistics clearly show that the "Jewish race" is too smart to be fooled by extensive media coverage of the multiple corruption probes. The somewhat clumsy attempt to defend the Israeli PM immediately landed the ruling party member in hot water.

The loud statement about Jewish supremacy struck a nerve with Ahmad Tibi, an Arab-Muslim Israeli politician and leader of the Arab Movement for Change party, who, on Twitter, accused his Israeli counterpart of devising his own racial theory. "An elected official in 'the Jewish state' presents: race theory," he tweeted, along with a portrait of Zohar.

Comment: Identity politics strikes again.

Ideological Possession: Israel's Zionists Shoot Themselves in the Foot

What happened with the Skripals? An educated guess

Rob Slane
The Blogmire
Thu, 14 Jun 2018 14:10 UTC

I want in this piece to start joining some dots together on this case, using some of the facts, clues and suppositions that I have set out in the previous parts. I said at the end of Part 4 that there would be one more piece. That has turned out to be wishful thinking on my part, and there will in fact be a further article after this one. In this piece, I want to propose a theory - or maybe educated guess is a better term - for what I think may have happened on 4th March. Then I will need one final piece to show why I think this theory helps to explain a number of other events and incidents connected with the story. Think of that final part as tying up some loose ends.

So what of the theory?

Back in Part 2, I made the claim that two of the most important clues in the whole Skripal case are:

The people who were seen on CCTV walking through the Market Walk towards The Maltings at 15:47 who were very clearly not Sergei and Yulia Skripal
The red bag that one of them was carrying

These clues are very important, because one of the first witnesses on the scene, Freya Church, testified that she saw a red bag at Yulia Skripal's feet. In addition, we know that a red bag was placed in an evidence bag and taken away from the scene.

Of course, it could be that the red bag seen near the bench was not the same red bag carried by the person walking through The Maltings. Then again, large red bags like that are not exactly very common (walk around a town and see how many you spot). If the people and the bag have been ruled out, I haven't heard anything to that effect in the media. Rather, they have been quietly forgotten about in the midst of a lot of nonsense about door handles and deadly nerve agents that don't kill. This itself raises suspicions, and it is therefore entirely reasonable to suppose that these two people are important, and that the red bag seen on CCTV is the same one seen next to the bench.

Comment: Slane's previous instalments in this series:

Dennis Rodman on the US-NK summit: 'Like I've been saying all along, Kim doesn't want war with America'

Nikki Schwab
New York Post
Tue, 12 Jun 2018 12:23 UTC

Basketballer-turned-peace broker Dennis Rodman was in Singapore Tuesday to cheer on the historic meeting between President Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.

The Post caught up with Rodman poolside at the Regent Hotel Singapore just minutes after the two leaders signed their denuclarization agreement to get his thoughts.

What is your initial reaction to the summit?

I said it all along, this shouldn't be something negative, this should be something positive and still forward. And it took a long time for this to happen, it took a long time for this to happen. I think people want to see it and they're going to make it happen. We just gotta keep it positive. I don't think people want to see this as a publicity stunt. They don't want to see that. They want to see some major change. Whether it's war, peace or this friendship or some type of dialogue, I think people want to see that part. It's been a long time overdue, right? And I keep telling people Kim Jong Un don't want war, he don't want war between America. He just wants some type of positive feedback from Americans and if he believes that, I think this will go a long way.

Comment: In case you're wondering "if this eccentric celebrity ex-sportsman can grok the situation, and, roughly, what can/ought to be done about it, then what the heck do we need the so-called 'intelligence community' and 'think-tanks' for?"... you don't.

The real deal: Russia in talks to build gas pipeline uniting the Korean Peninsula

RT
Fri, 15 Jun 2018 13:20 UTC

Russia's energy major Gazprom has resumed talks with Seoul over the construction of a gas pipeline connecting Russia with North and South Korea.

"The political situation has changed, and the South Korean side has contacted Gazprom regarding the resumption of this project. A series of talks has been held, and these negotiations are continuing," said Deputy Chairman of the Management Committee Vitaly Markelov.

The project to unite the Korean Peninsula with a gas pipeline has been discussed for a long time, but official talks started in 2011. The negotiations were frozen after relations between Seoul and Pyongyang deteriorated.

Comment: This is good news for peace in the Korean Peninsula. Nothing smooths out geopolitical relations as mutually beneficial business deals. Too bad for tinfoil Russiagater Rachel Maddow, who must be having a fit right now:

Not Satire! Rachel Maddow reveals shocking fact that China and Russia are "literally neighbors" with North Korea!

US to fund White Helmets 'vital operations' to the tune of $6.6mn

RT
Fri, 15 Jun 2018 12:48 UTC

The United States will resume funding for the controversial, militant-linked White Helmets, a month after the group had its financial support frozen. The State Department also lauded the group for saving "100,000 lives" in Syria.

President Donald Trump has authorized the US State Department, in conjunction with the United States Agency for International Development, to release $6.6 million for the "vital, life-saving operations" of the so-called Syrian Civil Defense group, known colloquially as the White Helmets, and for the UN's International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism (IIIM), a UN agency that is investigating war crimes committed during the conflict.

A statement released by State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert claimed that the White Helmets had saved more than 100,000 lives since the conflict in Syria began. The generous praise may even surprise the White Helmets - by their own estimates, they've only rescued some 70,000 people.

Comment: Further reading:

Ministers from Germany, Austria & Italy form 'axis of the willing' against illegal migration

RT
Fri, 15 Jun 2018 12:48 UTC

In a landmark agreement, the interior ministers of Austria, Germany and Italy have banded together against illegal migration, but the move is more likely to split the German Cabinet than it is to make the EU change its mind.

"In our view, we need an 'axis of the willing' in the fight against illegal migration," Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz said after meeting with Horst Seehofer, Germany's interior minister in Berlin. "I am happy about the cooperation that we want to develop between Rome, Vienna and Berlin."

This is the first time central European powers have joined forces against illegal migrants, more than 1.8 million of whom have entered the continent in the past four years. In his statement Kurz called the peak of the influx in 2015 a "catastrophe" that "must be prevented" in the future. A previous such alliance in Eastern Europe, the Visegrád Four, led by Hungary and Poland, who erected guarded borders and refused to accept EU refugee quotas, was repeatedly censured by Brussels.

Comment: Further reading:

Russia's Gazprom wins appeal on Ukraine's gas contract breach - Halts Naftogaz's attempts to seize European assets

RT
Thu, 14 Jun 2018 14:14 UTC

A Stockholm court's decision to order Russia's Gazprom to pay compensation to Ukraine's Naftogaz has been suspended. This means Kiev can no longer demand the freezing of Gazprom's assets in Europe.

The Russian company argued that Naftogaz breached the gas delivery contract. In 2015, Ukraine opted to stop buying the contracted volume, replacing it with gas supplies from European countries.

However, in February, the Stockholm court ordered the Russian company pay for a shortfall in the delivery of gas to Ukraine, awarding Naftogaz $2.6 billion in compensation.

Comment: Ukraine shows itself time and time again as an untrustworthy business partner, whereas Russia, which clearly hold the cards in this situation, consistently shows leniency and patience with even the most belligerent of customers:

Also check out SOTT radio's: Behind the Headlines: Trump Ditches Europe, Europe Bluffs, Russia and China Carry on With Eurasian Integration

I said this would happen...now they are looking to mandate companies with less that 100 employees...shits getting real, people[Link]

Bezel Bub

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cracker

"Falling out of windows" as an occupational hazard for people with access to sensitive information - compliments of the Soviet playbook and even...

Tsakoug

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steven23

I've got an idea to help folks like this. Anyone know of any in Central Florida? R.C.

Rowan Cocoan

Puppet Masters

Italy and France call for 'profound' changes to EU asylum rules - African asylum processing centers

Petrodollar, Trade Deficit and Tariff: What is Trump Doing?

Trump tweet: Justice Dept report a disaster for 'Comey and his minions'

Jewish supremacy: Israeli MP says Jewish race is the best in pro-Netanyahu talk

What happened with the Skripals? An educated guess

Dennis Rodman on the US-NK summit: 'Like I've been saying all along, Kim doesn't want war with America'

The real deal: Russia in talks to build gas pipeline uniting the Korean Peninsula

US to fund White Helmets 'vital operations' to the tune of $6.6mn

Ministers from Germany, Austria & Italy form 'axis of the willing' against illegal migration

Russia's Gazprom wins appeal on Ukraine's gas contract breach - Halts Naftogaz's attempts to seize European assets

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