Puppet MastersS


Star of David

Israel cuts water supplies in West Bank amid heat and Ramadan

A file photo of a Palestinian child pouring water over his head
Israel has cut water supplies to major areas in the north of the occupied West Bank amid sweltering heat and the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

Reports on Wednesday pointed to the move by the Israeli water authority Mekorot, which has affected tens of thousands of Palestinians.

They listed the targeted areas as the municipality of Jenin, several villages in the Nablus area, and the city of Salfit and its surrounding villages.

Ayman Rabi, the executive director of the Palestinian Hydrology Group, was quoted as saying on Tuesday that in some areas, people had not received water for more than 40 days.

"People are relying on purchasing water from water trucks or finding it from alternative sources such as springs and other filling points in their vicinity," he said.

"Families are having to live on two, three or 10 liters per capita per day," he added.

Quenelle - Golden

Election officials petition Venezuelan Supreme Court to protect recall process from right-wing opposition

maduro
Venezuela's Maduro
The head of the presidential commission auditing Venezuela's recall process, Jorge Rodriguez, petitioned the Supreme Court Monday for a protection order against the opposition following revelations of fraud in signature collection.

On Friday, the country's electoral authority, the CNE, announced that 605,727 of the 1.85 million signatures collected by the opposition as part of the initial requirement to begin the recall referendum process were invalid due to a host of irregularities, including 10,995 deceased people as well as 9,333 fictitious individuals.

As part of the official request, the El Libertador mayor called on the high court to review the signatures in order to determine if the right-wing opposition coalition, the MUD, had violated citizens' political rights in the case of the invalid signatures.

"We have come to present this lawsuit in order to protect Venezuelans' constitutional rights to ensure that no brutal fraud is perpetrated that would authorize [the MUD] to continue on to the next stage of the recall," he stated.

Comment: Further reading: Exceptionalistan's kill list: Smashing the 'B' in BRICS


Bad Guys

NATO ramps up its encirclement of Russia

Zašto je Rusija stavila svoju zemlju tako blizu NATO-vih vojnih baza i miroljubivih vojnih vježbi?
NATO prepares a veritable military buildup in Eastern Europe: German soldiers are operating in Lithuania, the British take over Estonia, and US soldiers move in to protect Latvia. The Canadians will be in Poland. Also in the Mediterranean, combat units are being increased. Russia perceives the activity as a threat, but hasn't yet announced any countermeasures.

At the NATO summit during July 8th-9th in Warsaw, the Alliance will adopt a massive military presence along Russia's border. Russia is classified by NATO as a threat. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg recently said in Washington that the US and the EU have the right in the form of NATO to defend its territories on foreign soil. Critics of this strategy believe that it's possible this upgrade will increase significantly the danger of a conflict between the superpowers. Wednesday in Brussels, the defense ministers want the military alliance to take decisions which will then be sealed by the leaders in Poland. NATO wants to strengthen its military presence on its eastern borders significantly, and to position foreign combat troops battalions in Poland and the three Baltic states. Germany is the core of the Association in Lithuania, the British in Estonia, and the United States is expected to be that in Latvia. What remains unclear, however, is who will be sending troops to Poland.

Maybe Canada will take on this task, it was last reported from Polish diplomatic sources as quoted by Reuters. "'The summit in Warsaw will be President Obama's last (NATO summit) and the U.S. wants it to be a success. It will ensure that the fourth framework country is found, possibly by leaning on Canada,' the source said. 'Washington will bend over backwards here.'"

Comment: Further reading: US-led NATO exposed yet again as primary supporter of ISIS


Network

US intimidated by 'aggressive' Chinese sophisticated intelligence

Cyber graphic
© Pixabay
The most urgent intelligence threat to the United States comes from China, according to David Major, former FBI agent and current director of a security think tank.

At a congressional US-China Economic and Security Review Commission hearing last week, experts claimed that Chinese spying currently poses the most significant threat to US security.

According to data collected by counter-intelligence think tank CI Centre, 160 Chinese espionage agents were uncovered in America between 1985-2016.

Binoculars

Russia troop deployment to Belarus border blown way out of proportion, CSTO works to counter NATO

s-400
In the first days of June, the news became known that the 28th mechanized brigade had been transferred from its place of permanent deployment in Ekaterinburg to the city of Klintsy in Bryansk region on the border with Belarus. According to the first deputy head of the city administration, Oleg Kletny, the soldiers arrived at their new stationing point on May 30th.

This instance of re-deployment has caused a real storm in the media on both sides of the Russian-Belarusian border. On June 2nd, two journalists asked the press-secretary of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Peskov, to comment on the appearance of Russian soldiers on the Belarusian border, to which he answered: "I know nothing about this. But speaking of a strengthening of the grouping on the border with Belarus would be an exaggeration."

Comment: In other news, Russia has delivered some 100 new tanks and APCs to their base in Tajikistan, their largest foreign base. This comes as the CSTO (the Russian equivalent of NATO, with members Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan) announces setting up of a joint air defense system:
"The merger of regional air defence systems will pave the way for creating a common air defence (system) over the entire territory of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation," Nikolai Bordyuzha, the head of the Russia-led alliance of six countries, told a press conference in the Armenian capital Yerevan.

Moscow has a joint air defence system in place with Belarus and Kazakhstan, and the agreement to create one with Armenia "is being considered for ratification" by the two countries' parliaments, Bordyuzha said.



Play

Killary knows she won't be indicted - Video

Queen Hillary
Someone who personally approved thousands of extrajudicial drone strike killings over a blackberry ain't got time for no laws.

Comment: Conclusion: She must therefore be indicted in the high court of public opinion.


Blackbox

For real this time? Syrian sources claim Daesh leader al-Baghdadi killed in Syrian/Russian airstrike, other sources say U.S. coalition airstrike

Abu Bakr Baghdadi
© East News/ Balkis Press
Multiple media outlets have reported that Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, leader of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), has been killed in a US coalition airstrike. However, the Pentagon and Iraqi military have declined to confirm the claim.

On Monday, the Turkish daily Yeni Safak reported that the self-styled "caliph" of Islamic State was killed in an airstrike on the Syrian city of Raqqa, citing the IS-affiliated Arabic news agency al-Amaq.


Comment: The same Dash-linked source that has claimed both the Orlando shooter and the recent Paris knife-attacker were with Daesh.


"Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been killed by coalition airstrikes on Raqqa on the fifth day of Ramadan," said the statement, as quoted by Yeni Safak. The Muslim holy month began on June 6, meaning the strike would have happened on Saturday or Sunday.

Eye 2

Julian Assange: WikiLeaks to release more Clinton emails, says US DOJ will block indictment

Wikileaks assange
WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, has said his organisation is ready to publish more emails Hillary Clinton sent and received while US secretary of state.

The Guardian is reporting that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange plans to publish more emails sent and received by Hillary Clinton while she was US Secretary of State.

In a Sunday interview with ITV's Peston, when asked if WikiLeaks had any more undisclosed emails, Assange replied:
"We have upcoming leaks in relation to Hillary Clinton, which is great, WikiLeaks has a very big year ahead. We have emails related to Hillary Clinton which are pending publication, that is correct."
On March 16, 2016 WikiLeaks launched its first tranche of 30,000 emails and attachments in a searchable archive from Clinton's private server. You can access the searchable database here.

Comment: A fair assessment of the probable outcome of Killary's email woes. The establishment does look out for its own, as long as they are useful. Killary's been an establishment girl from the get-go.


Георгиевская ленточка

Kiev's sainted war hero Savchenko keeps calling for peace with the DPR and LPR

Nadia Savchenko
© RadioSvoboda.org (RFE/RL)Nadia Savchenko
Since her release from Russian captivity last month after nearly two years, Ukrainian airwoman Nadia Savchenko has called for talks with Russia-backed separatists about the war in eastern Ukraine and further prisoner exchanges.

And to the critics who have dismissed prospects of such talks as impossible, she has a message: Try a stint behind bars.

"I have spent two years in jail for nothing," Savchenko told RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service in an interview. "Try to do the same. If you want to persuade people that you are right, try to spend time in jail."

Savchenko, 35, has raised hackles among some Ukrainian officials for saying she is willing to negotiate directly with separatist leaders in eastern Ukraine, where more than 9,300 have been killed since hostilities erupted in April 2014.

But after her experience on the frontline of the war, in Russian captivity, and visiting eastern Ukraine recently, she says such direct talks are crucial, as are conciliatory steps like an amnesty for locals who took up arms against Kyiv but did not commit serious crimes.

"If we can't make peace, then [the war] will last forever," she said. "And that has already become a burden for everyone. Everybody is fed up with that. People are tired. People want to live in peace."

Comment: She may have blinded herself when it comes to Putin and Russia, but she plainly sees the corruption rampant in Ukraine and the futility of continuing the conflict in the east. If the power players in Kiev don't get her out of their hair soon, she's likely to cause them some serious problems.


Snakes in Suits

NATO boosts force build-up in E. Europe, confirms deployment of four multinational battalions

Members of the U.S. Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team
© Ints Kalnins / ReutersMembers of the U.S. Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team leave a Chinook helicopter during the Silver Arrow NATO military exercise in Adazi, Riga, Latvia.
After a NATO meeting in Brussels, the alliance's secretary-general, Jens Stoltenberg, confirmed that it plans to deploy four multinational battalions in the Baltic States and Poland, while President Putin has ordered snap inspections for Russia's military.

On Tuesday, NATO agreed to deploy a new 4,000-strong force in the Baltic States and Poland, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said after a meeting of the block's ministers in Brussels.

The move is seen as part of an effort aimed at protecting its Eastern European allies from Russia, which NATO apparently perceives as a threat.

The four battalions will reportedly be provided by Britain, the US, Germany, and possibly Canada, and is to be deployed in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Poland on a six-to-nine month rotating basis, becoming NATO's biggest military buildup since the Cold War, diplomats told Reuters earlier.

US Defense Secretary Ash Carter also promised that "there will be a continually present armored brigade combat team, which will bring in its own equipment with each rotation."