Puppet MastersS


Briefcase

Flashback UK expels 90 Soviet diplomats following defection of embassy KGB officer

Peter Harvey & Patrick Keatley
The Guardian
Sat, 25 Sep 1971 12:50 UTC

Comment: Note: this is written in the present tense because it's from The Guardian's archive and was published in 1971.


The Foreign Office is to expel 90 Soviet diplomats who have been spying for Russia, after a KGB defector revealed sabotage plans
ted heath
© Central Press/Getty ImagesBritish foreign secretary Alec Douglas-Home with prime minister Edward Heath in 1970.
Britain is to expel 90 Soviet diplomats who have been engaged in active espionage, the Foreign Office announced last night. Another 15 Soviet officials, at present overseas, will not be allowed to return to this country. Many of these men are suspected of involvement in planning acts of sabotage.

The expulsion order - affecting nearly 20 per cent of the 550 Soviet diplomats in Britain - is unprecedented in size and scope. It follows months of intensive investigation by the intelligence services, and the defection of a top KGB officer from the Soviet Embassy in London.

The KGB man, who had the rank of major, proved the catalyst for the "clearing" operation against Soviet espionage. He gave the security services a comprehensive breakdown of his country's espionage apparatus in Britain - and also supplied details "of plans for infiltration of agents for purposes of sabotage", the Foreign Office said.

Comment: The total number of Russians expelled was actually 105:
The expulsion of 105 Soviet diplomats, journalists and trade representatives by the Heath government in 1971 is the single biggest action taken against Moscow by any western government. Sir Alec Douglas-Home, then foreign secretary, was accused by Labour of over-reaction. Many were exposed by Oleg Lyalin, the first Soviet intelligence agent to defect since the second world war. Oleg Gordievsky, who later defected from the KGB, said the expulsions dealt a heavy blow to the Soviet Union's intelligence effort here. Moscow responded by expelling 18 British embassy staff from Moscow.
See also: Cold War continuum: The long history of US-Russian expulsion of diplomats

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Info

Time interview: Saudi Crown Prince says Syria's Assad 'is staying'


Sputnik
Sat, 31 Mar 2018 13:13 UTC
Mohammed bin Salman
© AP Photo/ Etienne Oliveau/Pool
According to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, President Bashar al-Assad is not likely to be toppled; yet he has expressed hopes that Assad will not serve Tehran's interests.

The wide-ranging interview with Time has shown that Riyadh's views on Syria's future might have changed.

"Bashar is staying. But I believe that Bashar's interests are not to let the Iranians do whatever they want they want to do," Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told the media outlet.

Having focused on Syria, bin Salman said that US military presence in the country was indispensable.

"We believe American troops should stay for at least the mid-term, if not the long-term."
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Dollar

China can succeed with petro-yuan where Gaddafi failed by killing the US dollar in oil trade


RT
Sat, 31 Mar 2018 12:52 UTC
Muammar Gaddafi
© Zohra Bensemra / Reuters
Muammar Gaddafi wanted to shatter the dominance of the greenback in the Middle East by introducing gold-backed dinar, but failed. China has a chance to finish what he started, one industry expert has told RT.

"Ideas related to oil trade in currencies other than the dollar arose more than once. Some of them were severely suppressed by the United States, one example is Muammar Gaddafi, who proposed the introduction of a regional currency gold dinar and trading oil in the Middle East in this currency," Aleksandr Egorov, foreign exchange strategist at TeleTrade, told RT.

However, this time, an attempt to oust the dollar could be successful. China has launched oil futures backed by yuan, and Beijing has what Gaddafi didn't, according to the expert.

"Along with the Chinese role in the global economy and the growing interest in the renminbi, China is also protected by a nuclear shield. It can afford to try to shatter the monopoly in oil trade. This will give even more weight to the Chinese yuan. In addition, China's economy is the world's largest consumer of oil, and consequently, all world producers of raw materials will have to reckon with the strategy of the Chinese authorities," Egorov said.
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Russian Flag

Russia closes Seattle consulate but refuses to remove flag on principle


RT
Sat, 31 Mar 2018 12:41 UTC
Russian embassy in Seatle
© Lindsey Wasson / ReutersThe Consulate General of the Russian Federation in Seattle, Washington, US, March 26, 2018.
The Russian consulate in Seattle has been closed by order of the US authorities. The staff has decided not to take down the Russian flag, though, leaving it for the Americans to deal with.

Having wrapped up their last day of work on Friday, the Seattle consulate staff gathered outside their office, rented in a 25-story office building, took a picture together, then removed the plaque with the consulate's name from the wall, RIA reports. They now have until April 2 to remove all papers and other items, as that is the date that access to the premises will be shut off.

The papers will be taken to the Consulate General, consul Valery Timashov's residence, which, unlike the office, is Russian property. From there, they will be spread out to other diplomatic missions across the US. The residence will have to be vacated as well, although the consul has until April 24 to do so.

Comment: Also see: Cold War continuum: The long history of US-Russian expulsion of diplomats

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Stop

Trump reportedly walking back on US pledge to invest $200mn in Syria recovery


RT
Sat, 31 Mar 2018 12:34 UTC
Syrian refugees at the Al Zaatari refugee camp
© Muhammad Hamed / Reuters
US President Donald Trump has reportedly pulled over $200 million in funds earmarked for Syria. It comes after he hinted that the US would no longer bother itself with Syrian problems upon achieving its military goals there.

Over $200 million in US assistance for the war-ravaged country, promised by former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in February, may never reach the liberated areas of Syria that have been left in ruins by seven years of a lingering conflict, which saw the Russian-supported Syrian government force and the US-backed rebels battling Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) and Al-Qaeda affiliates.

According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, citing US officials, Trump ordered the State Department to freeze the allotment of the funds after he came across a news report on Tillerson's pledge of financial support for Syria.

In his opening remarks at the meeting of the US-led anti-IS international coalition in February, Tillerson announced that Washington would provide "an additional $200 million to further support critical stabilization and early recovery initiatives in liberated areas of Syria."
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Attention

Kuwait calls UN Security Council emergency meeting over deadly Israel-Palestine border clash


RT
Sat, 31 Mar 2018 12:25 UTC
Palestinians run from tear gas fired by Israeli troops
© Mohammed Salem / ReutersPalestinians run from tear gas fired by Israeli troops during clashes, during a tent city protest along the Israel border with Gaza, demanding the right to return to their homeland, east of Gaza City March 30.
The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting concerning 'Great Return' protest clashes along the Israeli-Palestine border. The UN chief has called for an investigation into the violence that reportedly killed 16 Palestinians.

In a statement issued in the wake of the UN Security Council emergency meeting, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said that "his thoughts are with the families of the victims" that were killed or injured during the violent clashes at the Gaza border.

"The Secretary-General calls for an independent and transparent investigation into these incidents," the statement, issued by his office, reads.

The meeting was called by Kuwait, which, along with Turkey, Egypt, Jordan and other countries with predominantly Muslim population, voiced their anger over the way the Israeli army retaliated against mass unrest that erupted along the border with Gaza Strip on Friday.

Comment: For more on the situation: Israel suppresses unarmed protesters against siege of Gaza with chemical weapons and live gunfire from snipers: 16 Palestinians killed, thousands injured

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Propaganda

'NY Times' covers up Israel's killing of nonviolent protesters along the Gaza border

James North
Mondoweiss
Fri, 30 Mar 2018 00:00 UTC
Gaza protesters tear gas 3-30-2018
Screenshot from the New York Times website
The NYTimes today continues its biased coverage of Israel/Palestine, with a shocking, one-sided report that tries to cover up how Israel has opened fire on the mass nonviolent Palestinian protest inside the Gaza border.

The dishonesty starts in the first sentence of the Times report, which contends that the protests "descended almost immediately into chaos and bloodshed," with "at least five Palestinians killed in clashes with Israeli soldiers."

Note the cunning effort to use vagueness to hide the fact that Israel fired live ammunition ("descended. . . into bloodshed"), and "clashes" - insinuations that both sides are somehow responsible for the five deaths.

Comment: This little rogue nation can't do genocide for decades without the help of Western mainstream media propaganda. Western media is ready to support the firing of millions of dollars worth of missiles into Syria over the alleged chemical attack, but won't even report correctly when Israel uses these chemical weapons on innocent civilians, even if it has video evidence. See also:

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Biohazard

SOTT Focus: Embassy Expulsions: How Low Will The Western Order Go? Joe Quinn Speaks With Sputnik


Sott.net
Sat, 31 Mar 2018 10:52 UTC
joe quinn sputnik
The coordinated expulsion of Russian diplomats from over a dozen Western countries earlier this week is a new low in the New Cold War, but some fear that the bottom has yet to be reached.

Earlier reports made it evident that some sort of collective action was being planned in the West, but comparatively few could have imagined that it would lead to the largest-ever expulsion of foreign diplomats in American history, let alone during what is formally regarded as "peacetime". Even more insultingly, this was executed on the unproven pretext that Russia allegedly carried out a chemical weapons attack in the UK, after which its esteemed diplomats were accused of being "spies" and unceremoniously kicked out of their host countries.

As Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Maria Zakharova noted, this was especially painful for Russians because it came right after the tragedy in Kemerevo while the entire country was still in mourning.
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No Entry

Best of the Web: Cold War continuum: The long history of US-Russian expulsion of diplomats

Robert Burns
thestar.com
Fri, 30 Dec 2016 11:36 UTC
russian diplomats expelled
© Joel Landau/Associated PressA bus carrying Soviet diplomats, who were ordered out of the US in 1986, being unloaded at Kennedy International Airport in New York.
The diplomatic history between the United States and Russia has been eventful in the last three decades.

U.S. relations with Moscow during and after the Cold War have been marred by diplomatic dust-ups ranging from espionage scandals to an Olympics boycott.

Current tensions, highlighted by President Barack Obama's decision to impose sanctions and expel 35 Russia diplomats, are exceptional because they stem from U.S. allegations of Russian cyber meddling in the presidential election and because they are playing out during a White House transition. They also coincide with a collapse of military-to-military relations and nervousness in Europe over Russia's annexation of Crimea and aggression in eastern Ukraine.


Comment: That would be Western nervousness over the democratic expression of the will of the Crimean people.


Some of the more significant episodes of the past three decades:

Comment: But they did leave, right?

How many years now has the US been in Afghanistan?...

And of course we see that boycotting or otherwise sabotaging Russian involvement in international sports and cultural events are also "from the Cold war manual of how to deal with Russian influence."

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Newspaper

Furious China ramps up support for Russia on Skripal, calls West's actions "outrageous"

Alexander Mercouris
The Duran
Sat, 31 Mar 2018 00:00 UTC
Global Times says West disregards due process, bullies Russia, no longer leads world community, threatens other nations.
Furious chinese dragon
Global Times - unofficial English language organ of China's ruling Communist Party - has published a scorching editorial savaging the West's bullying of Russia over the Skripal case.

The editorial notes the West's disregard of basic courtesies and of due process, and warns that other countries - including implicitly China - may one day find themselves in the same crosshairs for this sort of attack.

The editorial also reminds the Western powers that so far from representing "the world community" they represent only a small part of it.

The editorial is so trenchant and so strong - going so much further than any editorial I have seen in a Chinese newspaper supporting Russia in its conflict with the West, including two previous editorials which Global Times has itself published on the Skripal case - that I am going to set it out in full

Comment: "Common sense" is the last thing in Western leader's mind in creating false flags, peddling the politically motivated fake news, fanning the hysteria and utilizing it for blaming whomever they don't like to justify their agenda. See also:

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