Puppet MastersS


Attention

West sponsoring atrocities in Russia - Moscow

Zakharova
© Sputnik/Russian Foreign MinistryRussian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has accused Kiev's Western backers of complicity in alleged atrocities committed by Ukrainian troops during their ongoing incursion into Kursk Region. Her remarks on Friday followed investigators' previous accusations that troops have raped and murdered civilians.

Earlier this month, Russian forces discovered human remains in the liberated settlement of Russkoye Porechnoye. The Investigative Committee announced it had identified several Ukrainian soldiers as suspects, with one currently in custody. Zakharova called the images released by the investigators "impossible to watch," and condemned the perpetrators for deliberately targeting vulnerable people.
"The world must understand who the Westerners are sponsoring and that with Western money, with these hundreds of billions of dollars and euros, the Kiev regime is committing these atrocities, which testify to its neo-Nazi nature. What kind of inhuman being tortures elderly civilians, beats them, injures them, and then blows them up with grenades?"
The spokeswoman was referring to the forensic evidence uncovered in the village.

Comment: There is no downside or grand punishment for crimes to humanity when self-proclaimed nations of privilege consider themselves above international law.


Footprints

Trump says Venezuela will accept migrants returned from US

MaduroGrenell
© ReutersVenezuelan state media said Maduro's discussions with Grenell had been respectful
Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post on Saturday that Venezuela had agreed to take back migrants who had come to the United States illegally. The announcement came after a meeting between President Nicolás Maduro and a senior Trump administration official, Richard Grenell that led to the release of six US detainees held in Venezuela.

Trump wrote:
"Venezuela has agreed to receive, back into their Country, all Venezuela illegal aliens who were encamped in the U.S., including gang members of Tren de Aragua. Venezuela has further agreed to supply the transportation back."
Venezuela has not independently announced the deal.

The BBC has reached out to Venezuela's mission to the United Nations for comment. A statement issued by the Venezuelan government said that migration was among the topics discussed by Grenell and Maduro, according to the Venezuelan state-sponsored broadcaster TeleSUR.

The earlier release of the six US detainees was announced on social media by Trump and Grenell. Grenell did not name the six men, who were seen dressed in light blue outfits used by the Venezuelan prison system.

Snakes in Suits

Meghan McCain vows to make it her 'personal mission' to campaign, fundraise against Senators voting against Tulsi Gabbard's confirmation

Meghan McCain, Tulsi Gabbard
© Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for TIME, Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Meghan McCain vowed to make it her "personal mission to help campaign and fundraise" against any Senator who does not vote to confirm Tulsi Gabbard to serve as the Director of National Intelligence (DNI).

"Any Senator who votes against @TulsiGabbard for DNI isn't just going to have a problem with MAGA and Trump," McCain warned. "I will make it my personal mission to help campaign and fundraise against you in your next election. And my people are probably a lot like their people."

McCain's words came days after Gabbard first appeared before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday for her confirmation hearing. During Gabbard's opening statement, she addressed the "lies and smears" that her opponents have attempted to spread about her, noting that her opponents have implied she is "loyal to something or someone other than God" or the Constitution of the United States.

What Gabbard said was:
Now, before I close, I want to warn the American people who are watching at home, you may hear lies and smears in this hearing that will challenge my loyalty to and my love for our country. Those who oppose my nomination imply that I am loyal to something or someone other than God, my own conscience and the Constitution of the United States, accusing me of being Trump's puppet, Putin's puppet, Assad's puppet.

Comment: Meghan McCain may occasionally say things that are agreeable but at the end of the day she's still a swamp rat. Cases in point:







Bad Guys

Ooopsies: Turns out signing the Hunter Biden letter was a bad idea

Bolton
© Alex Edelman/PAFormer US Foreign Policy Advisor, John Bolton
Why so many titans of intelligence were willing to risk their hard-won credibility is deeply mysterious.

On Monday, in one of his first acts as president, Donald Trump defrocked 50 high priests of U.S. national security. Now deprived of their clearances, if they want to know what's happening in the world, they are reduced, like the rest of us, to reading the newspaper, and waiting for the president to blurt out nuclear codes over brunch at Mar-a-Lago. Once out of government, these former officials usually keep their clearances so they can return to government, or to civilian contracting work that involves government secrets, without friction, and so they can learn secrets and give advice informally. Removing these clearances is petty and personal. But it is Trump's decision to make, and in a week of wacky and unexpected executive orders, it is one of the easier to defend.

The order singled out former Trump National Security Adviser John Bolton for special dishonor. Trump accused Bolton of making money by publishing a memoir "for monetary gain" before the intelligence community could scrub his text of classified material. In a separate and remarkably spiteful action, Trump rescinded Secret Service protection for Bolton, former Trump State department official Brian Hook, and former Secretary of State and CIA director, Michael Pompeo. The FBI has accused Iran of trying to kill all three men. Trump often expresses his distaste for those who tried to give direction and discipline to his first term. It is nonetheless shocking to see him come to power and, as one of his first acts, ensure that if Iranian assassins wish to take out his former advisers, they'll soon have a cleaner shot. Americans who work in national security assume that the government will protect them against vengeance from terrorists, no matter what. They now have reason to believe that this protection is a conditional perk, like a nice parking space, that can be taken away for talking smack on CNN.

Comment: Trump's purge and block of these slimeballs is not 'vindictive', it's protecting the country from amoral operators who use every advantage they have to serve their own agendas.

The author's low-key hissy-fit over Trump's directive ("petty", "spiteful") are typical of the wanna-be 'highbrow' Atlantic. No one cares.


Bullseye

Reports say Trump DOJ has fired prosecutors, initiated 'review process' of FBI agents who worked on Jan. 6 cases

Trump jan 6 prosecutors fired DOJ
© ShutterstockTrump has long argued that the DOJ and FBI were “weaponized” against him and his supporters.
The Justice Department fired dozens of federal prosecutors involved in Jan. 6 cases on Friday and informed the FBI that it would initiate a "review process" to determine if thousands of agents that worked Capitol riot investigations should also be terminated.

The axed prosecutors were informed of their dismissal in a letter from interim DC US Attorney Ed Martin, according to multiple outlets.

Martin told the 30 or so fired federal prosecutors that they were being removed as a direct result of their role in the prosecution of some of the more than 1,500 individuals who stormed the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Comment: The FBI needs to be cleaned out from top to bottom, and Kash Patel is the man for the job. He and partner Devin Nunes were the ones to methodically dismantle the Russiagate hoax. And X users celebrate:






Attention

How Trump's bluntness shatters the liberal world order

DTRUMP
© David Becker/Getty ImagesUS President Donald Trump
US President Donald Trump's return to the center stage of world politics has once again ignited discussions about his peculiar political behavior. While the subject may feel numbing to some, Trump continues to dictate the global information agenda, underscoring two key realities about the modern world. First, the United States' central role remains undeniable, no matter how much others might wish for a multipolar order. Second, Trump's approach - pushing boundaries both literally and figuratively - has proven to be an effective way of achieving goals in today's climate.

At the core of Trump's political behavior is a rejection of hypocrisy and duplicity, replaced instead with bluntness and rudeness. He insists on getting what he wants and disregards counterarguments, often repeating the same demands relentlessly. Trump does not pretend to treat other nations as equals to the United States, nor does he hide this belief. In his worldview, international equality does not exist. The situation with China is slightly different because of the sheer size of its economy and trade volume, but even there, Trump's mercantilist instincts dominate.

Comment: Whether Trump does 'this' or 'that', he attracts global attention. Too much credit? Trump would disagree.


Stop

Ukraine conflict 'needs to end now' - Rubio

Marco Rubio
© Nathan Posner/Getty ImagesMarco Rubio speaks to the press following a unanimous confirmation vote to be Secretary of State in the US Senate • Washington, DC
It was dishonest to claim that Kiev could defeat Moscow. Ukraine is being destroyed by the fighting with Russia and the conflict must be swiftly settled through negotiations, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said.

In an interview on Sirius XM's The Megyn Kelly Show on Thursday, Rubio reiterated US President Donald Trump's willingness to find a diplomatic solution to the Ukraine crisis, saying:
"Trump believes the conflict needs to end now. It needs to end to a negotiation. In any negotiation, both sides are going to have to give something up. Even a growing number Democrats who vowed to support Kiev for 'as long as it takes' under Joe Biden would now acknowledge that what we have been funding is a stalemate, a protracted conflict, and maybe even worse than a stalemate, one in which incrementally Ukraine is being destroyed and losing more and more territory.

"What the dishonesty that has existed is that we somehow led people to believe that Ukraine would be able not just to defeat Russia, but, you know, destroy them, push them all the way back to what the world looked like in...2014.

"As a result of the conflict, Ukraine is being set back a hundred years. Their energy grid is being wiped out... And you know how many Ukrainians have left Ukraine, living in other countries now? They may never return. I mean, that is their future, and it is endangered in that regard."

X

No plans for BRICS currency - Kremlin

BRICS summit
© Anadolu/Getty ImagesAttendees of BRICS summit
Speaking to journalists on Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov addressed recent remarks by US President Donald Trump, who has threatened to hit the BRICS countries with tariffs should they create a joint currency to replace the dollar. Peskov clarified.:
"BRICS is not considering the creation of a common currency. This has neither been discussed in the past nor is it currently on the agenda. Instead, BRICS is focused on establishing new joint investment platforms that will facilitate investments in third countries, as well as mutual investments among member states."
On Thursday, repeating the threat of 100% tariffs, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform:
"There is no chance that BRICS will replace the US dollar in international trade or anywhere else, and any country that tries should say hello to tariffs and goodbye to America!"
Speculation about a potential BRICS single currency has circulated in recent years. In 2023, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva voiced support for the idea of a 'trading currency' within the economic bloc, drawing parallels to the creation of the euro. However, leaders of other BRICS nations, including Russia, India, China, and South Africa, denied discussing such a move.

BRICS leaders have repeatedly stated that they have no interest in weakening the dollar, and that the greenback is only weakened by its politicization.

Comment: Apparently 'The Buck' isn't stopping here! Not yet.


Eye 1

Neil Oliver: What Next!!!

Neil Oliver
Neil Oliver
'...dismantling the country!'


Attention

The Chihuahua Energy Policy: it's a gas, gas, gas

Gas Drilling
© Public Domain
Let's start with the tale of an Empire bragging to the wind.

Mr. Disco Inferno orders OPEC and OPEC+ to lower the price of oil, because, in his mind, that may solve the war in Ukraine - as in forcing Moscow to the table because of dwindling energy revenues. That in itself summarizes the level of garbage being fed to POTUS by his cornucopia of acronyms passing for intel.

Trump at Davos: "I'm going to ask Saudi Arabia and OPEC to bring down the cost of oil (...) If the price came down, the Russia-Ukraine war would end immediately. Right now, the price is high enough that that war will continue (...) With oil prices going down, I'll demand that interest rates drop immediately. And, likewise, they should be dropping all over the world. Interest rates should follow us."

Quite predictably, OPEC+ - basically run by Saudi Arabia and Russia - said Nyet. Apart from the fact they don't care much about interest rates, on the energy front they'll keep doing what they have planned to do, including soon decreasing production, but at acceptable levels.

Standard Chartered, a major player, noted that OPEC has limited power to end the war immediately by reducing the oil price, with OPEC ministers considering this attempt at "strategy" as very inefficient and costly.

So much for imperial diktats.