Puppet MastersS


Star of David

Salon gets it mostly right: Anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitism

Matthew Rozsa
Salon
Mon, 21 Jan 2019 17:15 UTC
rubio tlaib
How do we separate anti-Zionism from anti-Semitism? That question has existed far longer than the modern state of Israel itself and no ready answer is apparent. The most recent incarnation of this dilemma occurred recently when Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Michigan Democrat and the first Palestinian-American woman ever elected to Congress, criticized a Senate bill (currently blocked) that would permit state and local governments to ban contracts with entities who support a boycott of Israel.

"They forgot what country they represent," Tlaib wrote on Twitter. "This is the U.S. where boycotting is a right & part of our historical fight for freedom & equality. Maybe a refresher on our U.S. Constitution is in order, then get back to opening up our government instead of taking our rights away."


Comment: She's right.


It's worth noting that Tlaib wrote this tweet in response to a message posted by Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, an independent whose presidential campaign in 2016 was the closest any Jewish candidate has ever come to winning the Oval Office. Sanders also opposes the bill penalizing supporters of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (better known as BDS), and Tlaib was expressing solidarity with his position. The same could not be said of one of the bill's chief supporters, Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, who responded to Tlaib by accusing her of anti-Jewish bigotry.

"This 'dual loyalty' canard is a typical anti-Semitic line," Rubio tweeted. "#BDS isn't about freedom & equality, it's about destroying #Israel. And if boycotting #Israel is constitutionally protected, then boycotting companies that boycott #Israel is also constitutionally protected."


Comment: Rubio is an idiot. PSA Sitch is smarter:



Comment: Neil Godfrey over at Vridar.org summed it up well:
Yes, to wish for a democratic state of Israel with equal rights for all ethnicities and religions is surely a noble dream. I side with those who think it is now too late for a two-state solution and the best option for human rights and dignity for all is for Israel and the West Bank and Gaza to form a single state. (Oh, and those still stuck in refugee camps be allowed to return.) That does in effect mean the "end of Israel as a Jewish state" in the same sense that we speak of the end of South Africa as a white/Boer state. I think what is holding the parties back from going that far is racism, both anti-Jewish and anti-Arab racism. But I do see evidence of non-racists on both sides, the Jewish and the Arab. (But that sounds cruel .. "both sides" .. as if they are both equally to blame: they are not equally to blame, not by a long stretch). Now if only those persons could take the lead....

But I dream.


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Oil Well

Japan and 9 other countries importing Iranian oil after being 'granted' waiver from US sanctions


CNBC
Mon, 21 Jan 2019 16:15 UTC
oil tanker devon iran
Japan has started the process of importing Iranian oil, which was suspended due to U.S. sanctions, the governor of Iran's central bank said on Monday.

The resumption of oil imports comes after Tokyo was granted a waiver from U.S. sanctions that went into effect in November.

Iran is the fourth-largest oil producer among the members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Comment: And in 180 days those countries will no longer need a reliable and cheap supply of oil? It's notable (laughable?) that with the Iran sanctions, it's actually helping out Russia, who it's also attempting to sanction: Russian oil production jumps to record high amid rising prices and fears of shortage due to upcoming Iran sanctions

See also:

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Bad Guys

Erdogan says Syria belongs to Syrians, Turkey plans to give back occupied land to its owners


Sputnik
Mon, 21 Jan 2019 16:56 UTC
erdogan
© Reuters / Umit Bektas
The Turkish president's statement comes after Ankara claimed that it was ready to launch a military operation against the Kurdish YPG militia on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River as well as in other parts of Syria.

Commenting on the upcoming Wednesday meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, President Erdogan stated that he is planning to discuss the creation of a security zone in Syria. He reportedly noted, however, that Ankara would never allow turning "Syria into a swamp" like northern Iraq.

"We will ensure the security of our borders on our own. We will defeat Daesh ourselves, and I told [US President Donald] Trump: it's enough if you provide logistical support to us. We will also take Manbij and give it back to its hosts", Erdogan stated.

Comment: Erdogan is still playing the balancing act he seemingly excels at. On the one hand, threatening the Kurds (and the U.S.) with an invasion of Manbij, deal-making with the U.S. (with the security zone idea), and placating the Russians (and by extension the Syrians) by promising to leave after invading more of northern Syria. But whatever he says, it's pretty clear that the overall trajectory of Turkey's foreign policy of late has been in line with Russia in the Astana format for Syria. We'll just have to wait and see how it plays out.

See also: Erdogan tells Trump that Turkey ready to take over Syria's Manbij

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Broom

Russian warships escort 2 US destroyers in Baltic Sea


RT
Mon, 21 Jan 2019 09:45 UTC
USS Gravely
© AFP / Corey BarkerCrew aborad the guided-missile destroyer USS Gravely (DDG-107)
Two US destroyers that have entered the Baltic Sea are being shadowed by a pair of Russian warships, the Russian military has announced.

"The forces of the Baltic Fleet took Gravely and Porter, the destroyers of the US Navy that entered the southern part of the Baltic Sea, under escort. Russian Navy corvettes Boiky and Soobrazitelny are monitoring the actions of the US ships," the Russian National Defense Management Center said in a statement released on Monday.

Comment: If Russia did something similar you know the mainstream press would be wailing about 'Russian aggression', but when the US does it, repeatedly, and to China as well, apparently it's OK:

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People 2

"I'm not doing it for fun": German MP returns to parliament as a transgender woman


RT
Mon, 21 Jan 2019 15:04 UTC
Markus Ganserer
© AFP / Andreas Gebert and Christof StacheGanserer as Markus (L) and Tessa (R)
Markus Ganserer was re-elected to the Bavarian state parliament in October, but he won't be taking his seat in the chamber. Instead, Tessa Ganserer, Germany's first transgender lawmaker, will sit where Markus once did.

Representing the Green Party, Tessa Ganserer is Germany's first openly transgender politician. Ganserer represented Nuremberg North as Markus since 2013, and won reelection in October.

In a press conference last week, Markus announced that he had been transgender for a decade, and was finally coming out as Tessa. The Bavarian MP said he was binning his suits and ties and will serve the public as a woman.

Comment: Probably the most concerning aspect of this story is that the politician is clearly unaware of basic biology: what constitutes one's gender. Considering this detachment from reality, while he will likely fit in today's milieu of politicians who are equally out of touch, would one really want someone like that running the country?

See also:

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SOTT Logo Radio

SOTT Focus: NewsReal: Will Globalists' War on Nationalism Lead to Bloody Revolution?


Sott.net
Mon, 21 Jan 2019 17:00 UTC
newsreal brexit yellow vests
Protests in cities across France this weekend for 'Acte X' of the Yellow Vest movement were met with another round of heavy-handed reprisals from state security forces, not least the deployment of copious quantities of chemical weapons to disperse crowds. This revolution is not being televised - not truthfully anyway - because of a serious risk for the Powers That Be that its ideas will inspire people in other countries.

This week on NewsReal, Joe & Niall discuss the historic stand-off between government and the governed in France. This state of sclerosis is also apparent in the Anglosphere, where 'Brexit' is clearly being manipulated to deliver 'the right result' (i.e., no actual Brexit). Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, Trump really wants that Wall, but instead a political wall has gone up, again blocking the popular choice.

What happens when the democratic will of the people has nowhere to go? The 'globalist class' doesn't seem to understand that all its political gamesmanship, social engineering and brutal repression will lead to nowhere but their violent overthrow. As JFK once said: "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."


Running Time: 01:07:37

Download: MP3

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Black Cat

Erdogan tells Trump that Turkey ready to take over Syria's Manbij

Elad Benari
Israel International News
Mon, 21 Jan 2019 10:13 UTC
Trump Erdogan
Turkish President tells Trump Turkey is ready to take over security in Syria's Manbij as US withdraws troops.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke to US President Donald Trump on Sunday and told him Turkey is ready to take over security in Syria's Manbij, the Turkish presidency said, according to Reuters.

Erdogan said an attack that left four Americans dead last week in Manbij was an act of provocation aimed at affecting Trump's decision last month to withdraw US troops from Syria.

The attack occurred nearly a month after Trump unexpectedly announced that he would withdraw all 2,000 US troops from Syria, declaring Islamic State (ISIS) had been defeated there.

ISIS claimed responsibility for Wednesday's attack.

Comment:
Sputnik reports US and Turkish in negotiations for 'security zone':
"Today, our president held a phone conversation with his US counterpart Donald Trump. President Erdogan said Turkey was ready to take urgent security measures in the Manbij region to prevent the PKK-YPG [Kurdistan Workers' Party - Kurdish People's Protection Units] from destabilizing the situation.... The leaders also agreed to speed up the negotiations initiated by the heads of the headquarters of the two countries to create a security zone in Syria", the statement says.

Erdogan also expressed his condolences to Trump in connection with the death of the US troops as a result of the terrorist attack in Manbij, adding that this provocation is aimed at influencing the decision of the US President to withdraw US troops from Syria.

On Tuesday, Erdogan said, following a phone conversation with Trump, that the latter had proposed creating a 30-kilometer (18-mile) buffer zone in Syria. The Turkish leader recalled that he had come with a similar initiative as far back as when Barack Obama was president, but the proposal never came to pass. According to Erdogan, the future security zone will be controlled by the country's military.


Erdogan may propose Turkish control of the area. Whether it will actually happen is another matter. He is not the leader of Syria, Bashar Assad is.


In December, Erdogan announced that Ankara was ready to launch a military operation against Kurdish fighters on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River as well as in Syria's Manbij, located near the Turkish border, if the United States did not remove the militia from there.

The Turkish later said that he had decided to postpone the start of the military operation in Syria after a phone conversation with Trump on 14 December, during which the US president also revealed his plans to withdraw troops from Syria.

On Wednesday, nearly two dozen people, including US servicemen, were killed in Manbij in an explosion for which the Daesh terrorist group claimed responsibility.

The Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) left Manbij at the end of last year amid fears that Ankara would launch a military operation there against them. The city is controlled by Damascus at the moment.

US President Donald Trump made an announcement in December that about 2,000 US ground forces in Syria would be withdrawn within a month. The decision prompted then-Defense Secretary James Mattis to resign.

Following Trump's announcement, advisers in his administration have reportedly scrambled to slow or derail the withdrawal by warning that Daesh has not yet been defeated, in spite of losing an estimated 99 percent of the territory the militants previously amassed in Syria and Iraq.
Note the high-handed way Erdogan and Trump discuss the disposal of Syrian territory. Such things may not be so easily done though if Russia steps in. The Kurds recognize they are about to be discarded by the US neocons, and are trying to throw their lot in with Damascus.

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Mr. Potato

Delusional Schiff wants to 'investigate' disputed Trump-Cohen story while BuzzFeed doubles down despite Mueller denial

Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge
Sun, 20 Jan 2019 09:54 UTC
Adam Shiff
Adam "Shiffty" Shiff
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA), still licking his wounds from getting grounded by President Trump last week, has vowed to "absolutely" investigate a BuzzFeed News report that President Trump directed his former personal attorney to lie to Congress about a potential Trump Tower Moscow project that never materialized - despite special counsel Robert Mueller's office claiming the report is untrue.

"Absolutely. Absolutely," Schiff told CBS's "Face The Nation" after being asked whether he would investigate the allegations.

"Congress has a fundamental interest in two things. First, getting to the bottom of why this witness came before us and lied, and who else was knowledgeable that this was a lie," Schiff added.

Comment: You'd think when the sainted Special Counsel himself, Robert Mueller, says the BuzzFeed story is bogus, the Washington drones would listen.

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Arrow Up

Tulsi Gabbard stands her ground and says she doesn't regret meeting Assad


RT
Mon, 21 Jan 2019 09:41 UTC
Tulsi Gabbard
© Global Look Press/ CNP/AdMedia/Ron SachsDemocratic congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard
Democratic presidential challenger Tulsi Gabbard has refused to budge on her anti-war views and apologize for meeting Syrian President Bashar Assad in 2017, defending dialogue as the "only alternative" to "more war."

Anti-war congresswoman and Iraq veteran Gabbard (D-Hawaii) was pilloried by mainstream media as well as the political establishment, both on the left and the right, for going on a privately funded fact-finding trip to Syria in January 2017, during which she visited Aleppo and met with President Assad.

Gabbard was labelled an "Assad apologist" and "Putin puppet," nicknames that have resurfaced after she announced her presidential bid earlier in January. But rather than renouncing the perceived "ills" to rally some mainstream support, Gabbard told CNN's Jake Tapper on Sunday that she did not regret her decision to speak face-to-face with Assad.

"It continues to be very important for any leader in this country to be willing to meet with others, whether they be friends or adversaries or potential adversaries, if we are serious about the pursuit of peace and securing our country," Gabbard said. She referred to Trump's meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to prove her point, saying that the "stakes are far too high" to brush away dialogue if it can help avert a major war.

Comment: See also:

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Wolf

Ocasio-Cortez holds record as most-viewed C-SPAN House speech ever on Twitter

Sam Gillette
People Magazine
Mon, 21 Jan 2019 07:33 UTC
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
When it comes to Twitter, it looks like President Donald Trump has some competition.

New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who was one of a wave of new faces joining Congress earlier this month, made C-SPAN history when a video of her speech from the House floor went viral on Twitter on Thursday.

"In just over 12 hours C-SPAN tweet of [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's] floor remarks last nite have become most-viewed twitter video by @cspan of any remarks by a member of House either party. 1.16M," wrote Howard Mortman, the broadcaster's communications director. He then confirmed that Sen. Kamala Harris holds the record for most-watched tweet video of the Senate, with 7.14 million views.

As of Friday afternoon, the just-over four minute video had 2.48 million views.
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