Puppet Masters

Legal battle heating up over Venezuela's looted billions

David C. Adams
Univision
Fri, 12 Jun 2020 02:56 UTC

Venezuela's interim government wants access to funds confiscated in the US from corrupt officials, saying it belongs to the Venezuelan people. But US officials appear to have other plans. The Treasury Department diverted $601 million last year from its forfeiture fund to help build President Trump's border wall.

As Venezuela slides deeper into political chaos and financial ruin, billions of dollars of public assets looted by corrupt government officials and their cronies, are being held by governments around the world, including the Trump administration, gathering dust.

Now, Venezuela's U.S.-backed government is gearing up efforts to try and recover that money to help its impoverished population battle the coronavirus pandemic, on top of an already calamitous public health crisis.

Meanwhile, the U.S. government is fighting in court to keep control of hundreds of millions of dollars of those ill-gotten gains, part of a treasure chest of forfeited assets from around the world.

"There is a moral imperative to look closely at this issue. The need in Venezuela is growing and the scale of the corruption is industrial," said Michael Camilleri, who is writing a report on the forfeiture funds for the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington, D.C., group that promotes democracy in Latin America.

Russia's come a long way since 1993; Putin's constitutional changes are apropos to the needs of a revitalized state

Ernest A. Reid
RT
Wed, 01 Jul 2020 06:21 UTC

Russia's 'super-presidential' 1993 Constitution was forged in blood after violent upheaval, at a time when the country was on its knees. It is logical that it would be revisited when modern Russia had finally come of age.

What is so problematic with the current 1993 Constitution, and what are the reasons behind the proposed amendments? The answers can be found in the circumstances under which President Boris Yeltsin's document came into effect and in the major transformation that Russia has undergone since then.

First of all, it is necessary to stress that Russia in 1993 and Russia in 2020 are essentially two different countries. In 1993, it was a bleak shadow of the Soviet Union, with a grim present and uncertain future. Yeltsin, along with Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrey Kozyrev and other liberal-minded members of his team, were doggedly pushing their country into the American sphere of influence.

It, therefore, comes as no surprise that Yeltsin's Constitution - adopted just two months after his team's undemocratic usurpation of power (by means of shelling and storming the parliament during the October putsch) - wasn't fit for its purpose as the supreme law of a great power. Instead, it legitimized the servicing of Western elites and Washington in particular.

Plan approved: Trump to withdraw 9,500 US troops from Germany

Amanda Macias
CNBC
Tue, 30 Jun 2020 07:46 UTC

President Donald Trump has selected an option for withdrawing U.S. military personnel from Germany and redeploying those forces elsewhere, the Pentagon said in a statement Tuesday night. Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said Tuesday:

"The Secretary of Defense and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff briefed the President yesterday on plans to redeploy 9,500 troops from Germany. The proposal that was approved not only meets the President's directive, it will also enhance Russian deterrence, strengthen NATO, reassure Allies, improve U.S. strategic flexibility and U.S. European Command's operational flexibility, and take care of our service members and their families.

"Pentagon leaders look forward to briefing this plan to the congressional defense committees in the coming weeks, followed by consultations with NATO allies on the way forward,"

The movement of 9,500 U.S. service members from Germany resurfaces claims made by the Trump administration that the NATO ally has been "delinquent in their payments" to NATO.

The COVID class war: Who foots the bill?

Yanis Varoufakis
Project Syndicate
Tue, 30 Jun 2020 00:00 UTC

The European Union's proposed recovery fund to counter the pandemic's economic fallout seems destined to leave the majority in every member state worse off. Finance will again be protected, if badly, while workers are left to foot the bill through new rounds of austerity.

The euro crisis that erupted a decade ago has long been portrayed as a clash between Europe's frugal North and profligate South. In fact, at its heart was a fierce class war that left Europe, including its capitalists, much weakened relative to the United States and China. Worse still, the European Union's response to the pandemic, including the EU recovery fund currently under deliberation, is bound to intensify this class war, and deal another blow to Europe's socioeconomic model.

Comment: While money makes the world 'go round', the lack of it stops countries in their tracks.

Merkel's warning: EU must prepare for no-deal Brexit

Jon Stone, Andrew Woodcock
Independent
Wed, 01 Jul 2020 00:00 UTC

The European Union must prepare for the possible failure of Brexit trade talks with the UK, Angela Merkel has said.

Speaking in the German parliament the chancellor said negotiations were being accelerated to try and reach a deal in the autumn that could be ratified by the end of the year. But she told the Bundestag that the EU "must and should prepare for a situation in which an agreement does not happen". She added:

"The progress made during the negotiations have been, to put it mildly, minimal. With Great Britain, we have agreed to speed up these negotiations to be able to agree on a deal in autumn, which would then also need to be ratified until the end of the year."

Her warning comes as the deadline for extending talks passes, with negotiations now surely set to end on 31 December with or without a deal.

Both side met face-to-face for the first time in months on Monday as UK negotiators travelled to Brussels. Previously rounds of talks have been held via videolink because of the pressures of the cornavirus pandemic.

Libya is Turkey's key to a Neo-Ottoman era dominance

Salman Rafi Sheikh
New Eastern Outlook
Tue, 30 Jun 2020 00:00 UTC

With tectonic changes, reflected largely through a massive decline in Saudi influence, taking place within the 'Muslim world', a potent struggle for new dominance has already begun. The symbolic and actual battlefield is Libya, gateway to a big part of the Muslim world in Africa. While a number of countries — Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Russia, France — are involved directly and indirectly in the 'Libyan saga', Turkey's involvement is not only deeper than all but also the most ambitious one. Turkey, unlike other countries, is not merely a supporter of a particular regime or a political faction; its presence is rooted in its ambitions to reassert and re-establish Turkey's Ottoman era dominance and become the leader of the entire 'Muslim world.' This leadership has both political and religious dimensions rooted in Turkey's support for a particular brand of Islam expressed widely through the Muslim Brotherhood.

Comment: See also:

US sanctions move for Russia's Nord Stream 2 pipeline spells end of Transatlantic bond - German ex-Chancellor Schroeder

RT
Wed, 01 Jul 2020 18:41 UTC

Aside from being an affront to EU sovereignty and an imminent threat to European jobs, the sweeping US sanctions targeting the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline mark the end of the Transatlantic partnership, Gerhard Schroeder has said.

A sanctions bill currently being debated in the US Congress is "a widespread, unjustified attack on the European economy and unacceptable interference with EU sovereignty and energy security in Western Europe," former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder argued in a position paper drafted ahead of parliamentary hearings on the matter.

The penalties - which affect "over 120 shipbuildng, engineering, environmental and security companies that work or have worked with Nord Stream 2" - mark the "definite termination of the Transatlantic partnership," the retired chancellor's statement said, as cited by the German business daily Handelsblatt.

"Behind each of these companies are European jobs that are at risk," it warned. Schroeder's judgment appears to match that of Nord Stream AG, a company operating the pipeline.

Bolton's real shocker: How did someone with his bad judgment and moral blindness get anywhere near the White House? A review

James North
Mondoweiss
Tue, 30 Jun 2020 17:03 UTC

© Official White House Photo by Tia Dufour
Former White House National Security Adviser John Bolton speaks to reporters about Venezuela on April 30, 2019, outside the West Wing of the White House.

THE ROOM WHERE IT HAPPENED
A White House Memoir
by John Bolton

577 pp., Simon & Schuster, $32.50

This book review follows an earlier post I did on Middle East policy in Bolton's book.

John Bolton's memoir proves that he's a worse human being than Donald Trump most clearly when he describes what happened after Iran shot down an unmanned U.S. drone aircraft over the Straits of Hormuz in June 2019. Bolton says that he was at first delighted that he (and others) convinced Trump to retaliate by escalating the conflict. He gets Trump to agree to strike three Iranian military facilities, even though, as Bolton writes clinically, the attack would be "likely entailing casualties."

But Trump has second thoughts. He learns the air raids might kill 150 people. Bolton quotes Trump directly:

"Too many body bags," said Trump. . . "Not proportionate." And then: "I don't like it. They didn't kill any of our people. I want to stop it. Not a hundred fifty people."

Trump calls off the attack. Bolton says, "This was the most irrational thing I ever witnessed any president do," and nearly resigns. And three months later, he is gone.

That Bolton thinks this episode shows Trump in a bad light is shocking. The real question is: How did someone with Bolton's poor judgment and immoral ethics get into the rooms at the White House where he could help decide if America goes to war?

Pentagon has 'no corroborating evidence' on fake NYT report on Russian bounties

Edmund DeMarche
Fox News
Wed, 01 Jul 2020 16:13 UTC

U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said in a statement Tuesday night that while the Pentagon has "no corroborating evidence" to support the explosive report last week that the Russian military was offering Taliban-linked militants bounties to kill American troops, he will continue to make sure any potential threat is taken seriously. He said the Defense Department chain of command "and I are fully committed to ensuring American forces in the field have the best intelligence, weapons, equipment, protective gear, tactics, and all necessary authorities to deal with any threats they might face in order to ensure their safety and mission success."

The New York Times, citing unnamed officials, reported Friday that it is believed that some "Islamist militants" or "criminal elements" collected payouts. The report pointed out that 20 Americans were killed there in 2019. It was not clear if any of those deaths were the result of a bounty. President Trump has denied any knowledge of the intelligence.

Trump threatens veto of defense bill over amendment renaming bases that honor Confederates

Tyler Olson
Fox News
Wed, 01 Jul 2020 16:49 UTC

President Trump late Tuesday night threatened to veto the must-pass bill to fund the military for the 2021 fiscal year if it includes an amendment introduced by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., aimed at renaming military assets named after Confederate leaders and generals.

Warren on Tuesday gave a floor speech on the matter, and the Senate Armed Services Committee earlier this month approved the measure's inclusion in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The Senate on Tuesday voted 89-4 on a motion to proceed on the bill, which takes it one step closer to passage — but it might be forced to remove Warren's amendment if Trump decides to hold fast to his veto threat.

"I will Veto the Defense Authorization Bill if the Elizabeth 'Pocahontas' Warren (of all people!) Amendment, which will lead to the renaming (plus other bad things!) of Fort Bragg, Fort Robert E. Lee, and many other Military Bases from which we won Two World Wars, is in the Bill!" Trump tweeted.

Tornadoes here in Aus too, as I reported here [Link]

Tsidkenu

Small tornado also struck Armidale. We had another tornado hit farmland near Bathurst last week. This summer will be the summer of floods, hail...

Tsidkenu

What mandate? There still is no "mandate" [Link]

Tsidkenu

Set up a vaccine clinic in your front yard this Halloween [Link]

Tsidkenu

.. .. 2031? Hope this Comet "BB" hits on the 1st anniversary of Agenda 2030 during their annual vaxx parade

Jibrish

Puppet Masters

Legal battle heating up over Venezuela's looted billions

Russia's come a long way since 1993; Putin's constitutional changes are apropos to the needs of a revitalized state

Plan approved: Trump to withdraw 9,500 US troops from Germany

The COVID class war: Who foots the bill?

Merkel's warning: EU must prepare for no-deal Brexit

Libya is Turkey's key to a Neo-Ottoman era dominance

US sanctions move for Russia's Nord Stream 2 pipeline spells end of Transatlantic bond - German ex-Chancellor Schroeder

Bolton's real shocker: How did someone with his bad judgment and moral blindness get anywhere near the White House? A review

Pentagon has 'no corroborating evidence' on fake NYT report on Russian bounties

Trump threatens veto of defense bill over amendment renaming bases that honor Confederates

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