Puppet Masters

Snowflakes mourn the loss of 'American Exceptionalism' because of big, mean Trump

Daniel Sargent
Foreign Policy
Wed, 25 Jul 2018 05:10 UTC

© Mark Wilson/Getty Images
The lights temporarily go out in the Cabinet Room as U.S. President Donald Trump talks about his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, during a meeting with House Republicans at the White House on July 17, 2018 in Washington, DC.

When Benjamin Franklin went to France on a mission to win support for America's fledging revolution, his fur hat intrigued Parisians, spurring emulation. But the fashion choice was also a considered statement of the distinct values of his country. From the very beginning, the affirmation of republican probity has remained a touchstone for U.S. diplomacy, just as a sense of the United States as a nation "conceived in liberty" has informed Americans' understanding of their place in the world. As citizens of the "freest of all nations," as Ulysses S. Grant put it, Americans favored "people struggling for liberty and self-government."

It's true that United States became in the 20th century an imperial republic, but even then, it disavowed conquest and subjugation. Liberation and emancipation became the refrain for America's many wars, animated by President Woodrow Wilson's refrain that the United States battles tyrants but emancipates ordinary people. The United States would even strive to elevate and redeem the citizens of the Axis powers it defeated in 1945. After 9/11, the trope became entrenched, as President George W. Bush aimed to sever al Qaeda from Islam and Iraqis from their president. "The tyrant will soon be gone," Bush promised Iraqis. "The day of your liberation is near." What other conquering power has code-named a major military operation for the liberation of the invaded, as Bush did with Iraq? (Doubtless it did not occur to Hitler's high command to dub Operation Barbarossa "Operation Soviet Freedom.")

Comment: The author is right about one thing - Trump is giving 'American Exceptionalism' and liberal fascism a good, wholesome beating.

Also see:

Carter Page: Clinton spread rumors of 'Russian collusion' months before dossier

Jim Hoft
The Gateway Pundit
Wed, 25 Jul 2018 05:10 UTC

Carter Page went on with Tucker Carlson on Monday to discuss the release of the FISA court documents used to spy on the Trump campaign.

Carter Page was spied on by the Obama regime despite never even meeting the Russian officials he was accused of dealing with in the junk Steele dossier. He said:

Comment: The Clinton campaign paid for the dodgy dossier, tried to hide the payments, and Obama tasked the intelligence community with investigating it. Here's what James Clapper had to say:

If it weren't for President Obama we might not have done the intelligence community assessment that we did that set up a whole sequence of events which are still unfolding today including Special Counsel Mueller's investigation. President Obama is responsible for that. It was he who tasked us to do that intelligence community assessment in the first place.

Also see:

German intelligence congratulates itself on combating Russian hacking, despite finding no evidence of Russian hacking

RT
Tue, 24 Jul 2018 23:27 UTC

The ominous "Russian cyber activity" actually declined around the time of the German federal election, that nation's yearly intelligence report notes. It concluded that the decline was due to the valiant efforts of German spooks.

The yearly report on the "Protection of Constitution" was unveiled on Tuesday by Germany's Minister of the Interior Horst Seehofer and the chief of the German state security agency (BfV), Hans-Georg Maassen. It records growing numbers of extremists and the return of Islamists from battle zones in the Middle East, but also focuses on cyber security issues.

Naturally, when it comes to cyber space, one cannot do without the much-dreaded yet elusive 'Russian hackers.' The report says that after "numerous Russian cyberattacks on the German Bundestag" Germany had expected the much-feared Russian "meddling" in the federal election. However, in the end it failed to materialize.

Must-Watch Russian Documentary, Banned in The West: 'The Magnitsky Act - Behind the Scenes'

CaptainWho
BitChute
Thu, 19 Jul 2018 20:47 UTC

Who was Sergei Magnitsky, and why are we supposed to believe he was a hero?

The official story:

Bill Browder was an American businessman who ran a hedgefund in Russia.
Corrupt Russian cops, with the help of the Russian mafia, stole his business through a convoluted fraud scheme.
The lead cop grew rich from his stolen money.
Sergei Magnitsky was one of Browder's lawyers.
Magnitsky reported the fraud to the Russian government.
Magnitsky was arrested and brutally treated in jail.
7 riot cops beat Magnitsky to death while he was handcuffed.
The official cause of death listed 'heart failure'.
Browder has since spent all his time and money lobbying Western governments to sanction Russian individuals in honor of Magnitsky, and scored a major breakthrough when US Congress passed the first round of anti-Russia sanctions via the Magnitsky Act in 2012.

Andrei Nekrasov, the Russian film-maker and director of this documentary (The Magnitsky Act - Behind the Scenes) set out as a believer in Browder's story about the heroic Magnitsky and the evil Russian government. In the course of making a dramatic movie about it, however, Nekrasov and his crew realized that many details didn't add up. And so their production evolved into an investigative documentary...

Comment: Bill Browder is the man named by Vladimir Putin in his press conference with Donald Trump last week in Helsinki. Putin let it be known that $400,000,000 of the millions Browder's Hermitage Capital defrauded from the Russian state went to Hillary Clinton's campaign fund. So yes, 'Russian funny money' played a role in the 2016 US presidential election, but it's not what you've been told by the media.

In addition to being the key witness that got 'anti-Russia sanctions' rolling in 2012 (i.e., BEFORE things went down in Ukraine and Russia 'annexed' Crimea), Browder also popped up in the Russiagate hearings to effectively testify against Don Trump Jr over that meeting involving a Russian lawyer at Trump Tower in mid-2016.

Browder's shady business history in Russia and his newfound role as a 'human rights campaigner' are explored in the must-read book by Alex Krainer, Grand Deception: the Truth About Bill Browder, the Magnitsky Act, and Anti-Russia Sanctions, a book banned by Amazon and now available in hard copy from Red Pill Press.

Sott.net Radio interviewed author Alex Krainer late last year about his research into Bill Browder and his 'friends in high places'...

How Washington is being challenged by Iran in Iraq, or how to lose friends and make people hate you

Elijah J. Magnier
ejmagnier.com
Mon, 23 Jul 2018 20:35 UTC

© Sean Taylor/CJTF-OIR
Army Col. Michael Midkiff, 310th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) and officer in charge of the 1st Sustainment Command (Theater) Logistics Advise and Assist Team, helps an Iraqi soldier with an M16A2 rifle sling May 26, 2015.

The end of the Islamic State (ISIS) occupation of a third of Iraq and the return to control by Government forces of the entire territory is not giving peace and stability to Mesopotamia.

People took to the streets in many southern provinces protesting about the lack of basic services the country has been suffering from for over a decade. In addition, despite an all-party agreement over the results of the last parliamentary elections, the choice of a Prime Minister is not going to be easy. And that is not all: Mesopotamia's problems continue with the bras-de-fer between Iran and the US, which is intensifying. The actual Prime Minister Haidar Abadi is no longer Iran's favourite candidate but to the US and its regional Middle Eastern partners he remains so. The big question remains: in the event of successfully backing "their" candidate, who would be the winner, Iran or the USA? Both are determined not to lose and are using all available means to promote their own candidate-agenda.

Interim Prime Minister Haidar Abadi is managing for now to absorb the anger of the population, who took to the streets. They were demonstrating about the lack of jobs, the rationing of fresh water in the southern city of Basra, the regular power cuts in the very hot weather in southern and central Iraq, and they were revolting against the overwhelming corruption Iraq has suffered from since the US occupation in 2003.

Some of the demonstrators destroyed public institutions (the airport of Najaf), burned private shops and homes belonging to some members of the parliament and local organisations, and this justified the intervention of the security services. They arrested many individuals, and designated a specific place for demonstrators to manifest their freedom of expression. The security services opened all closed roads, even the ones between Basra and Kuwait.

Why Russia's offer to let Mueller come to Russia - in return for interrogations of corrupt Americans - sent Washington into a panic

Thierry Meyssan
Voltaire Network
Tue, 24 Jul 2018 20:21 UTC

On 16 November 2009, tax specialist lawyer Sergey Magnitsky died in Matrosskaya Tishina prison (Moscow). Immediately, the US Press claimed that he had been in possession of information concerning a State scandal, and had been tortured by the « régime ».

The Magnitsky Act

The death of Magnitsky shut down the legal procedures that had been launched against him by the Russian Minister of Justice. Billionaire William ("Bill") Browder declared in Washington that the tax expert possessed proof that Russian Power had stolen 3 billion dollars from him. Despite lobbying by Goldman Sachs, the US Congress believed it had clarified the affair, and in 2012 adopted a law sanctioning the Russian personalities suspected of having murdered the lawyer. Goldman Sachs, which did not believe the information forwarded by the parliamentarians, hired the lobbying firm Duberstein Group in an attempt to block the vote on the law [1].

On this model, in 2016, the Congress extended the « Magnitsky Act » to the whole world, requesting the President to implement sanctions against all people and all states which violate individual property. Presidents Obama and Trump obeyed, placing about twenty personalities on the list, including the President of the Republic of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov.

These two laws were aimed at giving back to the United States the role it had assumed during the Cold War as defender of individual property, even though they had no communist rival.

Comment: One thing's for sure: Browder's version of events is complete BS. See also:

An open letter from a Salisbury resident to Asst. Commissioner Neil Basu

Rob Slane
The Blogmire
Mon, 23 Jul 2018 20:13 UTC

Dear Mr Basu,

I am a Salisbury resident, and I am concerned with some aspects of the investigation into the poisonings that occurred in March and June this year in Salisbury and Amesbury respectively.

Let me begin by quoting some words from your predecessor as Head of Counter Terrorism Policing, Mark Rowley, who made the following statement on 7th March, shortly before his retirement:

"We would like to hear from anybody who visited the area close to the Maltings shopping centre where these two people were taken ill on Sunday afternoon, and may have seen something that could assist the investigation. The two people taken ill were in Salisbury centre from around 1.30pm. Did you see anything out of the ordinary? It may be that at the time, nothing appeared out of place or untoward but with what you now know, you remember something that might be of significance. Your memory of that afternoon and your movements alone could help us with missing pieces of the investigation. The weather was poor that day so there were not as many people out and about. Every statement we can take is important."

Understandably, Mr Rowley was keen to receive as much information and as many details from local people as possible, in order to help the investigation. This is of course entirely natural for someone in overall charge of an investigation, and so I assume that you would echo his sentiments.

However, more than four months into the investigation into the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal, along with D.S. Nick Bailey, there are a couple of rather obvious things which investigators could have done, which would have facilitated the kind of information from the public called for by Mr Rowley, but which they have conspicuously failed to do.

Israeli officials tell media Netanyahu refused Russia's offer to keep Iranian troops 100km from Golan border

RFE/RL
Tue, 24 Jul 2018 19:59 UTC

Russia has offered to keep pro-Iranian forces in Syria about 100 kilometers from the border with Israel as part of an agreement with the United States and Israel to help guarantee Israel's security, media are reporting.

A Russian delegation headed by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made the suggestion while meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on July 23, Israeli television and western media reported, citing Israeli officials.

As he has in the past, Netanyahu demanded during the meeting that all Iranian fighters and their allies be removed from Syrian soil in the long term, media said. He also insisted that Iran should remove all long-range missiles and its air-defense system from the country, media said.

Comment: Israel can demand and insist all it wants. It still lost the Syrian war.

But Israeli media did not characterize Netanyahu's response as a rejection of the Russian plan to keep Iranian military advisers and pro-Iranian fighters, including Lebanon's Hizballah militia, at a substantial distance from Israel as Syrian troops reassert control in the border region.

However, Reuters cited an Israeli official as saying that, while Russia was "committed" to its offer, Netanyahu rejected it and told Lavrov: "We will not allow the Iranians to establish themselves even 100 kilometers from the border" because Iran has long-range missiles that can reach Israel from Syria.

Comment: The Kremlin has now commented, saying the issue was indeed discussed, but denied that Israel 'rejected the offer'. According to Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov:

"During Lavrov's visit, not only this issue was discussed, but also many other issues," Ushakov told reporters, answering whether withdrawal of Iranian troops was discussed during Lavrov's visit.

He added that Russian President Vladimir Putin had discussed the issues concerning the Syrian settlement with Netanyahu.

"The other steps are taken as a follow-up to this discussion, including Lavrov and Gerasimov's visit to Israel now," Ushakov added.
...
The Russian Foreign Ministry has also commented on the media reports that Israel had rejected Moscow's proposal to withdraw the Iranian forces in Syria to a distance of 100 kilometers (some 62 miles) from the Israeli border.

"These reports are not true. I can state responsibly that the talks between [Russian] Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov with Prime Minister Netanyahu were very constructive. The Israeli leadership highly appreciated the Russian efforts to create a zone of de-escalation in southwestern Syria, which included the withdrawal of all non-Syrian armed groups from this region," deputy head of the ministry's information and press department Artyom Kozhin said in written commentary.

Note that Kozhin doesn't actually confirm that the 100-km deal is legitimate, or even that it was Lavrov who brought it up. It's hard to imagine it could be legit, given that Damascus itself is less than 100 km from Golan.

German minister tells India to ignore "irritating" US pressure and keep buying Iranian crude

RT
Tue, 24 Jul 2018 07:40 UTC

India and Iran are good partners in the oil trade despite Washington's discontent, and they should continue cooperating if they so wish, Germany's Minister of State for Foreign affairs Niels Annen said on a visit to New Delhi.

"I am not a salesman for Iran but I have an impression that India is willing to continue buying oil from Iran and this will be a very important statement," Annen told Indian media, as quoted by Sputnik news agency. He said the US attempts to force its allies to join new anti-Iranian sanctions are "irritating, to put it mildly."

India, which is dependent on crude imports, is Iran's top oil client after China. Despite this, India bought 15.9 percent less crude from Iran in June compared to May. After that, Iran threatened that it would suspend all privileges in bilateral trade with India, including payments in rupees.

Comment: This is just the latest in a spate of high profile statements which demonstrates the US' increasing isolation and shrinking influence:

Also check out SOTT radio's: Behind the Headlines: Atlantic Trade War? How Trump Breaking Iran Deal Could Dismantle US Empire

Syria and Ukraine drove Russia hawks insane

David Stockman
Antiwar.com
Fri, 20 Jul 2018 00:00 UTC

In Part 1 we referenced the infamous hysteria triggered in Salem Massachusetts by Betty Parris (age 9) and Abigail Williams (age 12).

In 1692 their prepubescent imaginations were apparently more than capable of detecting the evil doings of witches at loose in their community; and a population hopped up with Calvinist enthusiasm for the supernatural works of the Almighty apparently was also capable of lapsing into collective madness - at least for a spell.

But who would have thought that in the year 2018 the grizzled adults and racketeers who populate the Imperial City would fall prey to the same momentary outbreak of deliriums?

After all, Vladimir Putin was the very same Putin who made a mere cameo appearance in the 2012 presidential debates. He got an honorable mention when Barack Obama appropriately schooled Mitt Romney on the fact that Russia was not America's principal national security threat.

Indeed, the MSM commentators who are shrieking about Trump's parlay with Vlad today were knowingly furrowing their brows about Romney's alleged gaffe back then.

So the question at hand is what changed? How did the politics as usual debating points about the status of Russia and Putin only 69 months ago turn into a veritable Salem style hysteria?

We'd suggest two pivotal events turned the Imperial City upside down. To wit, Barry lost his nerve in August 2013 on the Syrian red line and Donald Trump won the 2016 election in the red zones of Flyover America.

Comment: The US is rapidly becoming an unhinged and upside-down society where normal stability, sanity and traditional values have been transformed into 'evil'. Meanwhile, disruption and corruption are disguised and promoted as the country's salvation.

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Puppet Masters

Snowflakes mourn the loss of 'American Exceptionalism' because of big, mean Trump

Carter Page: Clinton spread rumors of 'Russian collusion' months before dossier

German intelligence congratulates itself on combating Russian hacking, despite finding no evidence of Russian hacking

Must-Watch Russian Documentary, Banned in The West: 'The Magnitsky Act - Behind the Scenes'

How Washington is being challenged by Iran in Iraq, or how to lose friends and make people hate you

Why Russia's offer to let Mueller come to Russia - in return for interrogations of corrupt Americans - sent Washington into a panic

An open letter from a Salisbury resident to Asst. Commissioner Neil Basu

Israeli officials tell media Netanyahu refused Russia's offer to keep Iranian troops 100km from Golan border

German minister tells India to ignore "irritating" US pressure and keep buying Iranian crude

Syria and Ukraine drove Russia hawks insane

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