Welcome to Sott.net
Tue, 02 Nov 2021
The World for People who Think

Puppet Masters
Map

War Whore

Top NATO crazy General Scaparrotti cries 'Russian aggression' to secure more funds from congress


RT
Thu, 07 Mar 2019 16:34 UTC
General Curtis Scaparrotti
Cries over scary "Russian aggression" were yet again produced by a US military bigwig, who asked the Senate for more of everything for his troops. This, however, might simply be a marketing stunt, RT was told.

General Curtis Scaparrotti, the head of EUCOM and the supreme NATO commander in Europe, faced the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday, focusing on the scary - yet elusive - "Russian aggression." While the US still dominates, the Russian "threat" is growing steadily, the official claimed without offering any proof.

To fix that, his command needs more of everything - troops, planes, ships... and naturally, cash.

Comment: For more details on Scaparrotti's appeal for cash - and if you can stomach it...
Testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday, General Curtis Scaparrotti argued that the US maintains global military superiority, but cited "evolving Russian capabilities" as a threat to that dominance, challenging the US "ability to operate uncontested in all domains."

Scaparrotti, who as the head of EUCOM is also the supreme NATO commander in Europe, claimed without evidence that the Russian military posture is "increasingly aggressive" and sought aid from Congress to bolster EUCOM's "assigned and rotational forces."

In addition to more troops, ships, spies and everything but the kitchen sink, Scaparrotti revealed that EUCOM has requested two more destroyers from the US Navy, and maybe also an aircraft carrier, in order to counter what he said were the expanding capabilities of the Russian fleet.

The US currently has four destroyers stationed in Rota, Spain. One of them, the USS Donald Cook, recently ventured into the Black Sea to "promote stability" by posing as a live target for Russian coastal defense missiles.

Washington needs to upgrade its naval capabilities in order "to remain dominant in the maritime domain, and particularly undersea," Scaparrotti told senators.

Scaparrotti's gloom and doom pronouncements are par for the course, however - he sang the same tune last year. The US has been bolstering its troop presence in Europe since 2015, using allegations of "Russian aggression" in Ukraine as pretext. Just last month, the 1st Cavalry and 1st Infantry divisions were sent to Eastern Europe, as part of the ongoing effort dubbed "Atlantic Resolve."

Not surprisingly, the general's shopping list comes ahead of the proposed 2020 US military budget, which is expected to be announced next week and is rumored to be in the range of $750 billion, up from $716 billion allocated for 2019. Meanwhile, Russia has been gradually reducing military spending to devote more funds to infrastructure, education and social programs.

With the US national debt exceeding $22 trillion, however, the Pentagon is looking to save a few pennies here and there, so it is unclear how much Scaparrotti may eventually get. Last month, a report emerged that the Navy was considering retiring the aircraft carrier USS Harry Truman in 2024, decades ahead of its expected end of life, in order to divert money into the new Ford-class supercarrier project.

It was the Truman that ventured north of the Arctic circle in October last year - as part of massive NATO wargames on Russia's doorstep - the first US carrier to do so since the Cold War.

On the actually alarming subject of the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty expiring in less than six months, Scaparrotti had little to say. Asked how EUCOM was preparing for the end of the INF, the general told senators that the US informed NATO allies that plans would be made in cooperation with them.

"So, I don't know that we have a plan today," he said. "I know that we are working on what we think that plan might be."

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly complained that only a handful of NATO members were spending the agreed-upon two percent of their GDP on the military. Alarmed that the president might take the US out of NATO, the Democrats have spearheaded an effort in the US Congress to pass a bill in January banning such a move, but also demanding NATO allies boost their military spending.


      Read More...
Chess

Venezuela deftly foils US trap by NOT arresting Guaidó - and not feeding into the Western neo-liberal narrative

Ana Cristina Bracho
Fort Russ News
Wed, 06 Mar 2019 00:00 UTC
Juan Guaidó

US puppet Juan Guaidó
Editor's introduction, by Joaquin Flores: That Guaidó was NOT Arrested upon Return To Venezuela is EVIDENCE that the Bolivarian Republic is Ruled by Law, not a Dictator

This professional legal opinion by Ms. Bracho explains why Guaidó was able to return to Venezuela without being arrested. To summarize, and in the interests of explaining a document (below) which contained some phrases that were difficult to precisely translate in the language of Venezuela's constitutional legal framework, given my time constraints and not being a Venezuelan lawyer, I can nevertheless explain what is being said:

Guaidó is wanted for questioning, but there is not an arrest order against him. He violated a court order not to leave the country while the investigation is pending, but he also appealed this order and 'jammed' the legal process in so doing, so that his otherwise unlawful exit from the country actually placed him in a grey-zone. That means that in the interim, the courts may decide not to issue an arrest warrant based upon his departure from the country. While the courts generally frown on flagrant cases of not acknowledging a court order (prohibition), the courts should generally tend to use the least amount of coercion against a person who is being accused, or is wanted for questioning in a process which could lead to being accused. The latter case actually applies to Guaidó who has not yet been accused.

Comment: This weighed and considered response on the part of the Venezuelan government and judiciary is exactly what the reactive and mindless empire to the north was not counting on. Step by reasonable step Venezuela may get out of the trap set on them by those that would seek to plunder its resources and crush their sovereignty.

      Read More...
Bad Guys

Marine Le Pen to be prosecuted for tweets that criticized ISIS

Emma R.
Voice of Europe
Mon, 04 Mar 2019 21:55 UTC
Le Pen
Prosecutors have called for French right-wing leader Marine Le Pen to be tried for tweeting pictures of atrocities committed by the Islamic State group, judicial sources said.

Le Pen shared the gruesome images in December 2015, a few weeks after ISIS jihadists killed 130 people in attacks in Paris - and after a French journalist drew a comparison between the jihadist group and her party. Her move sparked widespread condemnation in France.

Comment: Whatever happened to the French valuing political expression a la 'Je suis Charlie'? And what about that first part of France's national motto...'Liberté, égalité, fraternité'? Most French people are likely more outraged at the actions of ISIS rather than Le Pen's criticism toward it.

      Read More...
Gear

Russian Duma chief smacks down economic minister for being unprepared


RFE/RL
Wed, 06 Mar 2019 21:31 UTC
Oreshkin Volodin

Russian Economic Development Minister Maksim Oreshkin (right) was interrupted by parliament speaker Vyacheslav Volodin (left).
The speaker of the Russian State Duma halted an appearance by Economic Development Minister Maksim Oreshkin and told him to come back another time, a rare rebuke that underscored tension and rivalries in President Vladimir Putin's ruling elite.

The interruption, which veteran legislator Vladimir Zhirinovsky suggested was the first of its kind in the lower parliament house since Putin came to power almost 20 years ago, also highlighted concerns about the state of the economy early in what could be his final term.

Duma chairman Vyacheslav Volodin, Putin's tough-talking former deputy chief of staff, criticized Oreshkin's report on the country's economic prospects, suggesting he came unprepared and was being too vague.

Comment: Ignore RFE/RL's tabloid spin about squabbles between Putin's 'ruling elite'. The issue here is Putin has a relatively short period to implement his "Great Society" economic vision for Russia, and he is a get-it-done kind of guy. Sounds like Oreshkin has been dragging his feet and deserved the rebuke... especially so if he thinks he has what it takes to be the president of Russia.

      Read More...
Quenelle

Venezuelan President Maduro calls for nationwide 'anti-imperialist' rallies to dwarf US-backed 'crazed minority'


RT
Wed, 06 Mar 2019 21:43 UTC
Crowd rally Maduro
© @jaarreaza
Crowd in support of the elected Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro
President Nicolas Maduro has urged Venezuelans to confront the "crazed minority" supporting US-backed Juan Guaido, by staging massive "anti-imperialist" rallies on the same day that the opposition plans to take to the streets.

"Nobody will be able to disturb the peace of Venezuela," Maduro promised, in his first public comments after the opposition leader Guaido returned to Venezuela on Monday and immediately called on his supporters keep up the heat against the government.
      Read More...
Penis Pump

Macron writes op-ed for the UK Guardian: "Dear Europe"...

Emmanual Macron
The Guardian
Tue, 05 Mar 2019 19:17 UTC
EMacron
© Reuters/Philippe Wojazer
French President Emmanuel Macron

Comment: As we read on, lest we forget that Macron's France, where he enjoys a meager 30% approval rating, has entered its 16th week of protests, thanks in large part to his neo-liberal policies which are fast destroying the livelihoods of his citizens.


Dear Europe, Brexit is a lesson for all of us: it's time for renewal Emmanuel Macron

Citizens of Europe, if I am taking the liberty of addressing you directly, it is not only in the name of the history and values that unite us, but because time is of the essence. A few weeks from now the European elections will be decisive for the future of our continent.

Never since the second world war has Europe been so essential. Yet never has Europe been in such danger. Brexit stands as the symbol of that. It symbolises the crisis of a Europe that has failed to respond to its peoples' need for protection from the major shocks of the modern world. It also symbolises the European trap. The trap lies not in being part of the European Union; the trap is in the lie and the irresponsibility that can destroy it. Who told the British people the truth about their post-Brexit future? Who spoke to them about losing access to the EU market? Who mentioned the risks to peace in Ireland of restoring the border? Retreating into nationalism offers nothing; it is rejection without an alternative. And this is the trap that threatens the whole of Europe: the anger mongers, backed by fake news, promise anything and everything.

Comment: So in short: Macron wants to help rule over Europe - when he barely has the support of his own country - with centralized, undemocratic, bureaucratic bodies; to replace traditional European culture with his own distorted vision of the world; and he's terrified of the populists who are rising in power, who actually represent the people, and who, with a fair vote, would eventually oust him. For more on the happenings in France, check out SOTT radio's:

      Read More...
Sherlock

CNN claims Trump pressured White House staff to grant Ivanka security clearance

Katelyn Caralle
Washington Examiner
Wed, 06 Mar 2019 20:41 UTC
Ivanka Trump
© Yuri Gripas / Reuters
Ivanka Trump
President Trump reportedly pressured White House staff to grant his eldest daughter and senior adviser Ivanka Trump a security clearance.

Three sources familiar with the matter told CNN that Trump demanded former chief of staff John Kelly and White House counsel Don McGahn approve clearances for his daughter.

Presidents have the authority to grant security clearances, but most instances fall on the White House personnel security office, which makes its determination after the FBI has completed a background check of the individual.

The CNN reports comes after the New York Times reported last week that Trump ordered Kelly to grant Jared Kushner, his son-in-law, a top security clearance even though intelligence officials expressed concerns.
      Read More...
Evil Rays

Did NSA kill the phone spying program exposed by Snowden... to replace it with something better? Of course


RT
Wed, 06 Mar 2019 20:58 UTC
cell phone tower
© Pixabay / markusspiske
The National Security Agency has reportedly ended the intrusive spying program that combs through Americans' calls and texts and won't be seeking to renew it, begging the question - what are they doing now that's more effective?

The secretive agency hasn't used the controversial system - the descendant of the 'Stellar Wind' metadata collection program exposed by NSA contractor Edward Snowden in 2013 - in months, according to Luke Murry, national security adviser to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who told the Lawfare podcast that the administration wouldn't even bother renewing its congressional authority for the program when it expires at the end of the year.

The NSA program - which reportedly had never thwarted a single terrorist attack - was essentially mothballed last June, according to Murry. Which, many believe, would only indicate the agency has been busy with something else for the last eight months.
      Read More...
Telephone

Russian Trolls Strike Again! Regime Change Operator Elliot Abrams Blabs US Venezuela Plans in Prank Call


Sputnik
Wed, 06 Mar 2019 20:38 UTC
Elliott Abrams
© Associated Press/Manuel Balce Ceneta
Elliott Abrams talks to reporters after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo named the hawkish former Republican official to handle U.S. policy toward Venezuela during a news conference at the State Department in Washington, Friday, Jan. 25, 2019
Vovan and Lexus, Russian telephone pranksters known for their trolling of politicians from around the world, have struck again, targeting US special representative for Venezuela Elliott Abrams to find out more about the US-backed effort to unseat that country's legitimate government. Sputnik got ahold of the full audio from the talks.


Comment: Oh boy, another impressive scalp from those two!


Posing as Swiss President Ueli Maurer, who also serves as the country's finance minister, the pranksters contacted Abrams on two occasions - in mid-February and early March, speaking to him for over 23 minutes about Swiss policy on the ongoing effort to freeze the Venezuelan government's assets as part of broader plans to replace President Nicolas Maduro with US-backed opposition leader Juan Guaido.


Comment: TROLL-LOL-LOL!!!


The highlight of the pair of conversations was when 'Maurer' asked Abrams about the chances of Washington following through with its threat to use military force to topple Maduro. Here is what he revealed:

Comment: Truly amazing. The pathocrats have become a global laughing stock!

More from RT:
According to them, they told Guaido's envoy that Maduro keeps his money in the Fund Nurlan Baidilda (which actually exists and is owned by a Russian citizen). Vecchio took this information as truth and later shared it with Bloomberg and posted it on Twitter.

Vovan and Lexus are supreme trollsters!

'Plan Venezuela' is literally turning into a joke.

      Read More...
Broom

The Orientalism of Western Russophobia

Max Parry
Sott.net
Wed, 06 Mar 2019 18:48 UTC
putin ghengis khan

Western russophobia, or 'eurasiaphobia': Wall Street Journal depiction of Vladimir Putin as Ghengis Khan, July 2018
Last year marked the 40th anniversary of the publication of Edward W. Said's pioneering book, Orientalism, as well as fifteen years since the Palestinian-American intellectual's passing. To bid farewell to such an important scholar shortly after the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, which Said fiercely criticized until his dying breath before succumbing to leukemia, made an already tremendous loss that much more impactful. His seminal text forever reoriented political discourse by painstakingly examining the overlooked cultural imperialism of colonial history in the West's construction of the so-called Orient. Said meticulously interrogated the Other-ing of the non-Western world in the humanities, arts, and anthropology down to its minutiae. As a result, the West was forced to confront not just its economic and political plunder but the long-established cultural biases filtering the lens through which it viewed the East which shaped its dominion over it.

His writings proved to be so influential that they laid the foundations for what is now known as post-colonial theory. This became an ironic category as the author himself would strongly reject any implication that the subjugation of developing countries is a thing of the past. How apropos that the Mandatory Palestine-born writer's death came in the midst of the early stages of the 'War on Terror' that made clear Western imperialism is very much alive. Despite its history of ethnic cleansing, slavery, and war, the United States had distinguished itself from Britain and France in that it had never established its own major colonies within the Middle East, Asia or North Africa in the heart of the Orient. According to Said, it was now undergoing this venture as the world's sole remaining superpower following the end of the Cold War with the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.
      Read More...
Amazon Smile
Revolt! T-shirts