Puppet Masters
"A total of 459 refugees left the Rukban camp through provided humanitarian corridor in the past 24 hours", Kupchishin said at a daily news briefing. The Russian general added that almost 2,300 people have been able to leave the camp and reach the territory controlled by the Syrian authorities since 19 February 2019.
Russia and Syria have repeatedly tried to draw the attention of the international community to the deplorable conditions at the camp, which houses more than 40,000 internally displaced people, mostly women and children. Both Moscow and Damascus have criticized the United States over its reluctance to allow people to leave the camp, which lies in a US-controlled zone near its unauthorized military base in At Tanf.

Building of the Parliamentary Assembly Council of Europe (PACE) in Strasbourg, France.
The absence of Russia from the organization marks "a real crisis in PACE, which affects the Council of Europe as a whole," Valentina Matvienko said.
"They understand... that a solution must be found," she pointed out, commenting on the recent PACE resolution, which called upon Russia to form a delegation and make its annual payment to the assembly.
Comment: No country in the West would pay to be part of a club only to have no rights whatsoever, why should Russia put up with it? It's also clear to many nations that little can be achieved these days without Russia (or China):
- Finian Cunningham: Why the United Kingdom is so aggressive towards Russia
- Germany needs to invest in Europe and have good relations with Russia, US President destroying the American world order says former German Foreign Minister
- Friendly relations with Russia and anti-austerity: Why the West is interfering in Italy's democracy
- Libya needs Russia and China for protection from West and support rebuilding country - Libyan Presidential candidate
The resolution, titled "Preventing Extreme Negligence with Classified Information Licenses Resolution" -or "Pencil Act"- calls for Schiff's resignation from the committee. The acronym is a reference to "pencil neck," which is President Donald Trump's recent nickname for Schiff.
"Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that Congressman Adam Schiff should be removed from the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House and that his security clearance should be revoked immediately," the resolution begins. "Whereas Congressman Adam Schiff is the Chairman of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of Representatives."
Theresa May, lest we forget, assured us repeatedly that Britain would be leaving the EU on 29th March 2019. Then when that didn't happen she said it would be by June 30th. Now she has agreed to an extension until Halloween. How appropriate, because the whole thing has turned into Nightmare on Downing Street.
It needn't have been such a horror movie. The basic problem has been that while the public (17.4m of them) voted Leave, the political Establishment has been largely in favour of Remain.
That Establishment includes the Prime Minister who supported Britain staying in the EU in 2016, albeit from behind the sofa. As I tweeted earlier in the week, you could say that she has handled Brexit disastrously. But that's only if you accept the premise she wanted the UK to leave. If her aim was to sabotage Brexit, while appearing to be in favour, you'd have to admit that she's played an absolute blinder.
Ecuador's Interior Minister Maria Paula Romo said on Thursday that a man was taken into custody in one of the airports as he was about to board a plane to Japan. There is little official information about his identity or the reasons for his arrest, with Romo telling a local radio station the individual was arrested on Thursday afternoon for the purposes of investigation.
Shortly after Assange's own arrest in London earlier that day, Romo hinted that the Ecuadorian government is about to unleash a crackdown on Assange's supposed web of connections on Ecuadorian soil.
She claimed that a "key" member of WikiLeaks, who is also "close to Julian Assange," has been a resident of Ecuador for several years and has engaged in malicious activity to undermine the government.
Comment: See also:
- Wikileaks Founder Assange Dragged Out of London Embassy in Handcuffs After Ecuador Tears up Asylum Deal
- George Galloway: 'Julian Assange exposed great crimes & now a great crime is committed against him'
- Who is Lenin Moreno and why did he hand Assange over to British police? - Former President Correa denounces him as a "traitor"
- Politicians on Assange arrest: The good, the bad, and the unspeakable
Avigdor Lieberman, Israel's former defence minister and head of the party Yisrael Beiteinu, announced he will back Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud Party, but not before the prime minister vows to end a ceasefire with Hamas and pledges to approve a plan to liquidate the movement, according to sources within the party cited by the Daily Sabah.
Lieberman has taken advantage of the similar number of seats won by Likud and its main rival, the Blue and White alliance led by ex-military chief Benny Gantz, Asharq Al-Awsat reports. Yisrael Beiteinu's support would allow Netanyahu to form a simple majority coalition in order to take control of the Knesset and secure President Rivlin's approval of his candidacy as the next prime minister.
Lieberman also reportedly warned Netanyahu of a "serious crisis" if the prime minister decided to reject his demand.
Comment: See more:
- Psychopath Lieberman quits as 'Jewish ISIS' defense chief - says Israel truce with Hamas is 'capitulation to terror'
- Lieberman's resignation not a "victory" for Gaza but a warning that the worst is to come
- Rogue state: Israeli Defense Minister Lieberman defends IDF killings of Palestinian journalists
- Psychopath Lieberman: Establishing safe zones in Syria will not limit Israeli freedom of action

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro and Peter Maurer, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), talk in Caracas, Venezuela April 9, 2019.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced on Wednesday that his government has been ironing out the details of a formal agreement with the International Committee of the Red Cross on how the aid will be distributed across Venezuela. The announcement was made after Maduro met with the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Peter Maurer, in Caracas.
Maurer sat down with Maduro on Tuesday evening as he wrapped up his five-day tour of the Latin American country, which reportedly saw the Red Cross officials gain unprecedented access to its most secretive facilities, including military-run prisons.
In the wake of what Maduro described as "an extraordinary meeting" with the Red Cross chief, he said that the agreement has been reached to "work together with the organizations of the United Nations, the UN, to bring Venezuela all the support, all the humanitarian aid that can be brought."
He stressed that it was important that the humanitarian supplies come into Venezuela with no political strings attached but with "respect to the sovereignty" of the country and "without politicization of any kind or misrepresentation."
Over the past several years there has been a sharp deterioration in relations between Moscow and Washington with many geopolitical experts seeing the current ties at their worst level since the Cold War. In 2014, the US and its Western allies introduced their first sanctions against Russia over the country's alleged involvement in the Ukraine crisis and the reunification with Crimea. Since then, the penalties have been extended and expanded over alleged elections meddling and various other reasons.
The Russian finance minister said in an interview with CNBC:
"This is not the best climate for business development... I think that we need to strengthen our links, both economic and political links, between the US and Russia. This would be of benefit to the global economy and, to our countries, our people and our entrepreneurs, first and foremost."

Activists from Svoboda (Freedom) and the far-right radical group Right Sector take part in a rally in Kiev, Ukraine October 14, 2017.
In 2014, Israel's Ambassador to Ukraine Reuven Din El and the ADL's Abe Foxman met with Pravy Sektor leader Dimitry Yarosh. Even though Yarosh is a disciple of the WWII criminal Bandera and the Israelis know the OUNb murdered 900,000 Ukrainian Jews in Ukraine, they decided they believed Yarosh that the OUN is not anti-Semitic.
What Yarosh may not have told them but they knew anyway, is that prior to Pravy Sektor, he was the leader of Trizub Bandery. It was the militant arm of Slava Stetsko's new political party in Ukraine called CUN (Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists). Yarosh was the WWII murderess' bodyguard. In his eyes, he was the heir apparent and incarnation of what Nazi sycophant Stepan Bandera would hope for to lead Ukrainian nationalists in 2014.
So, of course Jewish leaders had every right to give Yarosh a clean bill of political health to the rest of the world. Sure. That was the only reasonable and responsible thing for them to do. Ukraine still denies any responsibility for the millions of lives their progenitors took or the lives they are taking today.
Slava Stetsko's OUNb (Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists - Bandera faction) made a triumphant entry into Ukraine and cemented the dominance Diaspora nationalists would have in the region. When she came in June 1991, part of celebrating her husband's work was commemorating the June 1941 Lviv Pogrom her husband started. He was celebrating his declaration of the Ukrainian state which never came into being.
Why is this relevant to the events of 2014 through the 2019 Ukrainian election? What does it have to do with exporting terrorism?
These decisions may put the two forces against each other, on the ground in the Middle East or at sea in the Straits of Hormuz. A violent reaction could emanate from either side and bring the Middle East into unprecedented danger. Iran, rightly or wrongly, believes that Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu, who has obvious influence over President Trump, is pushing the US to trigger a war. Accordingly, Iran and its regional allies are preparing for war.
Preparing for the worse, in recent days Iran has contacted allies in the Middle East, explaining the dangers of the situation and its possible consequences for their respective countries. All allies expressed readiness to support Iran and engage in any future war if the US attacks the 'Islamic Republic' and its existence is at stake. This information has been confirmed by a trusted source in direct contact with decision makers among Iran's allies.












Comment: See also: