Puppet MastersS


Chess

Iraqi Kurdistan will enter 'serious' talks with Iraq when new gov't forms


Sputnik
Tue, 30 Oct 2018 01:09 UTC
Baghdad
© Sputnik / Dmitriy VinogradovBanners calling for voting in a referendum on Iraqi Kurdistan independence from Baghdad in Erbil
The autonomous Kurdistan Region will start a serious dialogue with Baghdad to resolve all differences between both sides once the new Iraqi government is fully formed and begins working, Hoshyar Siwaily, the head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party's (KDP) foreign relations office, told Sputnik on Monday.

"The government will be entering into serious negotiations with the federal government to resolve all the issues which both governments currently have, especially the new government headed by the new prime minister... When the full cabinet is in place, the serious dialogue and negotiations will start between our government, KRG [the Kurdistan Regional Government], and the federal government," Hoshyar Siwaily, head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party's (KDP) foreign relations office, told Sputnik on Monday.

According to the KDP representative, the Kurds have supported Abdul-Mahdi's nomination and would be monitoring his stance on the Iraqi Kurdistan issue.

Comment:

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Road Cone

Israel seeks railway connecting with Gulf states


Sputnik
Tue, 30 Oct 2018 00:35 UTC
Israel
Israeli Transport and Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz will present the project in Oman on construction of a railway line connecting Israel with the Gulf states, his office said late on Sunday.

Katz was invited by Oman to present the "Tracks for Regional Peace" at the IRU World Congress, which will be held in Muscat on November 6-8.

Israel's plan aims to link by rail the country's Mediterranean port of Haifa with Jordan, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states for a speeder and safer cargo deliveries, according to the office.

The relations between Israel and Oman have unexpectedly improved following the unannounced visit to Muscat by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week even though the countries have no diplomatic ties. It has been the first high-level meeting between the countries since 1996.
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Cult

The 'conservative' bomber, emperors with no clothes and the end of civility

Tom Luongo
Gold, Goats 'n Guns
Sat, 27 Oct 2018 00:00 UTC
boomer bomber
Recently Hillary Clinton picked herself up off the couch to declare that it was time to end being civil to her political opponents. Honestly, I thought this statement rich from someone who has so many dead bodies her scattered behind her.

Being an Enemy of Hilly has a very short lifespan.


Comment: See:

But, her statement itself is nothing more than the latest mask being removed by the global oligarchy I like to call The Davos Crowd in their pursuit of retaining their illusion of control over the direction of the world we live in.

That's right, illusion. They don't actually control anything. If they did they wouldn't be freaking out right now. They wouldn't be paying Hondurans to storm the U.S. Border, mailing fake pipe bombs to themselves or rigging elections.

In short, they wouldn't be losing.
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Bomb

US spellbound in horror by toy bombs - While obliterating lives with real ones

Caitlin Johnstone
caitlinjohnstone.com
Thu, 25 Oct 2018 00:00 UTC
fake bomb
Media headlines have been dominated for the last two days by the news that pipe bombs are being sent to Democratic Party elites and their allies, a list of whom as of this writing consists of Bill and Hillary Clinton, Barack and Michelle Obama, Joe Biden, George Soros, Maxine Waters, Eric Holder, Robert De Niro, and the CNN office (addressed to former CIA Director John Brennan who actually works for NBC). As of this writing nobody has been killed or injured in any way by any of these many explosive devices, and there is as of this writing no publicly available evidence that they were designed to. As of this writing there is no evidence that the devices were intended to do anything other than what they have done: stir up fear and grab headlines.

And of course it is a good thing that nobody has been hurt by these devices. Obviously targeting anyone with packages containing explosive materials is terrible, even if those devices were not rigged with the intention of detonating and harming anyone, and it is a good thing that not a single one of them has done so. It is a good thing that none of America's political elites were targeted by the sort of explosive device that America drops on people in other countries every single day. You know, the kind that actually explode.
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Eye 2

US-Led coalition strikes Syrian town using banned phosphorus bombs for the second time this month


Sputnik
Mon, 29 Oct 2018 18:03 UTC
white phosphorous
File Photo.
The use of white phosphorus munitions is banned under Additional Protocol to the 1949 Geneva Conventions. This is the second reported case this month of coalition forces striking the Syrian town Hajin with the banned substance.

Syrian state-run news agency SANA reported that the US-led coalition struck the Syrian town of Hajin, using banned white phosphorus bombs. The media has not immediately reported about the number of casualties or damages.

The reported attack is just one of several similar incidents that took place in October: at the beginning of the month, the coalition forces reportedly struck the town of Hajin in Deir Ez-Zor province using banned white phosphorus. Commenting on the reports, the Pentagon told Sputnik that all weapons that are being used in the Syrian campaign comply with the Law of Armed Conflict.

Comment: The use of barbaric white phosphorous bombs, which is designed to inflict maximum suffering on its victims, is becoming quite the calling card of the abhorrent Western establishment:

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Bullseye

Ramzan Kadyrov: 'War in Syria will continue for as long as US and EU want it to'

Paul Antonopoulos
Fort Russ
Sun, 28 Oct 2018 00:00 UTC
Kadyrov
Chechnya leader Ramzan Kadyrov said the war in Syria will not stop as long as it is desired by the United States and some European countries as they seek their own interests in the region.

"No matter how much the leadership of Syria, the Syrian people would like it, the war will not end until America, Israel, Europe and other coalition countries want it. The interests of many states have clashed there. Until these states agree on the need to end the war, the bloodshed will continue there," Kadyrov said at a press conference late on Saturday.

Hostilities in Syria continue because militant groups fighting against government forces are receiving support from the countries mentioned, according to the Chechen leader.

The Syrian state managed to last due to Russia's efforts, Kadyrov commented, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin "as a peacemaker, acts in accordance with the norms of international community and protects the integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic. Europe and the West have other interests."
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Footprints

What will happen when the migrant caravan reaches the US border?

Scott Morefield
Townhall
Mon, 29 Oct 2018 04:01 UTC
migrant caravan
'USA, here we come!'
As an ever-growing migrant caravan approaches the United States border from Central America, liberals and conservatives naturally disagree on what to do once they arrive.

Open-border liberals typically want to simply let them in, no strings attached, although many aren't saying it too loudly right now for fear of losing midterm voters. Conservatives on the other hand, while generally opposed and in the process of enjoying a PR spike driven by images of countless mostly military-age males marching toward our border carrying - invasion-style - from the countries they just left, are at a loss at what to do once this mass of people actually hits the United States-Mexico border in a few weeks.

To make matters worse regarding how the United States public views this migrant caravan, the vast majority of migrants reportedly just turned down Mexico's offer to grant refugee status that would have provided jobs, schooling, shelter, and medical care.

"Our goal is not to remain in Mexico," Oscar Sosa of Honduras told reporters in what is a typical response. "Our goal is to make it to the (United States)."

Of course, the "jobs" part might have been a stickler. Interestingly, under Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto's "You Are In Your Home" program, migrants would have been required to work in various areas of that nation's infrastructure repair in order to obtain the "freebies" Mexico was offering.

Not so in the United States, where the freebies must seem as vast and unending as the Kansas prairie must have seemed to an 1840s wagon train.

So, how should our government respond to this latest invasion?

Comment: See also:

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Arrow Up

Russia looks to eliminate US dollar from trade with African countries


RT
Mon, 29 Oct 2018 10:00 UTC
dollar africa
© P. Royer / Global Look Press
Russian corporations are ready to find an alternative to the greenback in mutual settlements with countries of the African continent, according to the chairman of the Russia-Zimbabwe Business Council, Dmitry Mazepin.

"I think, it is possible to use other currencies in Africa," Mazepin, who is also a co-owner of Russia's largest fertilizer manufacturers, Uralchem and Russian fertilizer group Uralkali, told journalists.

"We know that VTB is planning to extend its activity in the region. So, we could switch to settlements in the currencies that are more convenient to the lender."

Earlier this month, the Russian authorities announced plans to take all necessary steps towards de-dollarization of the country's economy. The key point of the ambitious plan is to make it more profitable for key Russian exporters to use rubles instead of dollars.

Comment: The list of countries readily dropping the dollar is rising, and fast: Also check out SOTT radio's:

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Attention

'Lost credibility': Merkel will not seek re-election as chancellor & CDU chair as party faces significant drop in support


RT
Mon, 29 Oct 2018 20:05 UTC
Merkel
© Reuters / Hannibal Hanschke
Angela Merkel has said she will not seek re-election as Germany's chancellor as well as CDU's party chair. The decision comes after a debacle for her ruling party in the local elections in the federal state of Hesse.

On Sunday, Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) received 28 percent of the votes. Although that was more support than other competitors received, it was a significant drop from the 38.3 percent won by the party in the state's last election in 2013.

However, Merkel claimed that her decision not to run for party chair again was made before the plebiscite and even before German parliament's summer recess. Party chair aside, the top politician also would not be available for another term as a chancellor.

What's more, if snap elections need to take place before 2021, Merkel would not run for the top post either.

She also stated that the government has "lost credibility."

Comment: In the wake of Merkel's looming exit, markets across Europe have surged, led by a rally in Germany:
In Frankfurt, the DAX index surged nearly two percent on the announcement. Markets in France and the UK followed with the London FTSE surging 1.72 percent and CAC40 rising 0.75 percent. Merkel made the announcement after her party showed poor results in a regional election. The news also sent the euro lower briefly against the dollar and bolstered German bond yields.

October has been a very bad month for the DAX, as the German market has plunged 6.8 percent, hitting its lowest level since December 2016 on Friday.


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Stop

Trump came this close to getting Afghanistan right, but then the establishment intervened

Daniel L. Davis
The American Conservative
Thu, 25 Oct 2018 00:00 UTC
TrumpMattis
© DOD photo by U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Jette CarrPresident Trump departs from the Pentagon alongside Secretary of Defense Mattis.
In a routine dating back to 2004, U.S. officials regularly claim that the latest strategy in Afghanistan is working - or as General David Petraeus said in 2012, the war had "turned a corner." It hadn't and it still hasn't. In fact, evidence overwhelmingly affirms that the newest "new" strategy will be no more effective than those that came before it. It is time to stop losing U.S. lives while pretending that victory is just around the corner. It is time to end the war in Afghanistan.

Last week, one of the most brazen insider attacks of the war took place in Kandahar when one of the Afghanistan governor's bodyguards turned rogue, killing three high-profile Afghan leaders and wounding the senior U.S. field commander, Brigadier General Jeffrey Smiley. Miraculously, the new commander, General Scott Miller, escaped harm. But in 2018, eight Americans have been killed in Afghanistan, bringing the American death toll to 2,351.

On October 7, 2001, President George W. Bush addressed the nation as combat operations in Afghanistan began. He emphasized that the American "mission is defined. The objectives are clear. [Our] goal is just." Those objectives, he explained, were "targeted actions" that were "designed to disrupt the use of Afghanistan as a terrorist base of operations and to attack the military capability of the Taliban regime."

By the summer of 2002, those objectives were fully met as the Taliban organization was wholly destroyed and al-Qaeda severely degraded. As of 2009, there were reportedly as few as 100 stragglers scattered impotently throughout Afghanistan. The military mission should therefore have ended and combat forces redeployed.

Instead Bush, and later Obama, transitioned the military mission - without consultation from Congress - into a nation-building effort that was doomed from the start. Candidate Donald Trump spoke of a different approach to the Middle East and railed against nation-building abroad. His instincts on Afghanistan have been consistent and correct from very early on. Had it not been for the relentless pressure of several key officials, the war might already have come to end.

Comment: From day one of Trump's presidency, the number of 'what ifs' are many. His instincts are better than he has been allowed to effect. In his favor: the outlandish aspects of current circumstances make many things obvious to those who see. Some important changes are occurring and it is not just the weather.
See also:

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