Puppet MastersS

Footprints

Did Seal Team 6 members strangle Green Beret to cover up fake 'Bin Laden killing'?

fake bin laden photo
Did Staff Sgt. Logan J. Melgar learn something unusual about the alleged killing of Osama Bin Laden by Seal Team 6?

If he did, he took the secret to his grave. Sgt. Melgar turned up dead last June 4 in the housing he shared with Seal Team 6 members at the US Embassy in Bamako, Mali.

Now two Seals from Team 6 are under investigation for murder - and speculation is swirling about the possible motive, including "whether Sergeant Melgar had stumbled upon some illicit activity the SEALs were involved in, and they silenced him, according to interviews with troops and their families." (NY Times)

One of the most egregious examples of "illegal activity" would be the supposed killing of Osama Bin Laden on May 2, 2011 in Abbottabad, Pakistan. According to Seymour Hersh's sources, the murdered individual said to have been Bin Laden was never positively identified by anyone, including the shooter who essentially shot the head and body into bloody pulp without any other team members having caught so much as a glimpse of the individual who was shot.

Comment: According to this local resident, what really happened that night in Abbottabad was that three helicopters circled the compound, one touched down, and everyone on it was killed in a fire/explosion.

And that was it, until Pakistani security services (and possibly American counterparts) arrived to shoo bystanders away.

No arrests were made, no Bin Laden showed up, and no shoot-out took place.




Bad Guys

Pat Buchanan: The real "plot" was the one to bring down Trump

pat buchanan
Well over a year after the FBI began investigating "collusion" between the Trump campaign and Vladimir Putin, Special Counsel Robert Mueller has brought in his first major indictment.

Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort has been charged with a series of crimes dating back years, though none is tied directly to President Donald Trump or 2016.

With a leak to CNN that indictments were coming, Mueller's office stole the weekend headlines. This blanketed the explosive news on a separate front, as the dots began to be connected on a bipartisan plot to bring down Trump that began two years ago.

And like "Murder of the Orient Express," it seems almost everyone on the train had a hand in the plot.

The narrative begins in October 2015.

Then it was that the Washington Free Beacon, a neocon website, engaged a firm of researchers called Fusion GPS to do deep dirt-diving into Trump's personal and professional life - and take him out.

Eye 1

Clinton mafia spotted meeting with Tony Podesta ahead of Mueller indictment

Tony Podesta
Democratic power lobbyist Tony Podesta, founder of the Podesta Group, announced he is stepping down from the firm that he and his brother John founded, after learning he is a central figure in the wide investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller.

Podesta's decision to leave the firm came on the same day that former Trump campaign aides Paul Manafort and Rick Gates were indicted on multiple charges, including money laundering, operating as federal agents of the Ukrainian government, failing to disclose overseas bank accounts and making false statements to federal authorities.

The investigation into Tony Podesta and his firm mushroomed out of Mueller's examination of Manafort's finances.

Manafort organized a PR campaign on behalf of a nonprofit called the European Centre for a Modern Ukraine, with the Podesta Group playing a central role in the lobbying efforts, and paid handsomely by Manafort to do work on the PR campaign to promote Ukraine to DC lawmakers.

Comment: See also:


Chess

Putin resets Iraqi energy deals as Barzani steps aside

Russian President Vladimir Putin
© REUTERS/Sergei KarpukhinRussian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech during a session of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russia, Sept. 7, 2017
Russian steps, US misstep, in Iraq

Russian President Vladimir Putin repositioned himself as a key broker of Iraqi energy politics last week, while US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was scolded by the Iraqi government for his comments about Iraq's Popular Mobilization Units (PMU).

Given America's history and assets in Iraq, it seems a reach that Russia could be outflanking the United States in Iraq, as we suggested last week. But while Putin choreographs each move with a wary and calculating eye on Iran and the ever-shifting regional landscape, the United States limits its options by seeing every Iranian move as adversarial and in zero-sum terms, which only serves to frustrate Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who prefers that the United States and Iran not play out their hostility in Iraq.

So in the same week that Tillerson earned a rebuke from Abadi's office for saying "Iranian militias in Iraq" should "go home" - the prime minister's statement termed the PMU "Iraqi patriots" - Iraq and Russia signed an expansive energy and economic protocol. The agreement opened discussions of more favorable terms for Russian companies and contractors in Iraq involving electricity and hydropower plants, oil and gas fields, equipment and supplies. The protocol touched on Russian soft loans in support of these projects as long as Russia has the lead in building and running these plants and operations.

In addition to the Iraqi-Russian protocol, Rosneft announced that it would begin exploration and pilot production of its fields in Iraqi Kurdistan, which proved a minor irritant during Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari's visit to Moscow on Oct. 23-25, as Marianna Belenkaya reports.

Jet1

Watchdogs blast failing F-35 program, Pentagon acknowledges reports as accurate but says there's nothing to worry about

F-35
© Pascal Rossignol / Reuters
The Pentagon has conceded that congressional watchdogs were "factually accurate" when they reported that the F-35 program is facing sustainability challenges but remain adamant that everything is under control.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report Friday, stating that the Department of Defense's (DoD) F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) is "facing sustainment challenges that are affecting warfighter readiness."

The review said the Pentagon's ability to repair F-35 parts at military depots are six years behind schedule, resulting in an average repair time of 172 days, twice the program's objective.

Comment: Incompetence seems to mark pathological organizations like white on rice.


Eye 1

Six more US states join Hawaii's 'unconstitutional' travel ban challenge

Travel ban
President Donald Trump's latest travel ban is facing another challenge in court, as six Democrat-majority states are seeking to intervene in Hawaii's lawsuit. California, Maryland, Oregon, Washington, Massachusetts and New York have jointly filed a motion to join Hawaii's lawsuit on the grounds that the ban is unconstitutional.

Comment: See also: US restarts visa processing after Hawaiian judge, again, blocks travel ban


USA

SOTT Focus: Americans Love Perpetual Wars

USA perpetual war
"With great power, comes great responsibility", that's a quote from the movie, Spiderman. The superpower known as America is a stranger to that concept however, because it can't stop waging incessant, futile wars. With the rapidity that change can occur in geopolitics these days, this callous American attitude can easily provoke a catastrophic global war. Although one can justifiably blame the elites for this debacle, equally culpable are the American people who loudly cheer or silently bless the perpetual wars. Selling a war in the U.S. is like giving out candies on Halloween.

Propaganda

Russian media trolls Reuters' fake story: 'Sensation! Poroshenko dies in Syria'

Reuters' fake story
The Reuters agency has recently run an article, claiming that the 131st Russian citizen has died in Syria since the beginning of 2017 - some of which were from private military companies (PMCs). While Russian private military companies do operate in Syria, and probably suffer some losses - this figure is considered unusually high. The below death certificate, allegedly signed by the Russian Consulate in Syria, was provided as Reuters evidence.

Reuters' fake document
Reuters' fake document
In the usual Reuters style, an "anonymous" Russian diplomat was cited as a source. Liberal, Ukrainian and other anti-Russian media enthusiastically picked up this story and published dozens of articles about Russia's "huge losses" in Syria.

At first instance, what stands out is the cause of death - "carbonization of the body." Carbonization occurs later as part of severe burns; medical professionals should in practice stipulate the cause of death itself and not post-mortum processes.

Eye 2

Is 'terrorist' billionaire Soros preparing a new attack on Russia's national security?

Soros
The famous financier George Soros has handed over $ 18 billion to the Open Society Foundation, which is included in the list of organizations that threaten Russia's national security.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Soros will not use these funds for speculation or investment in the market, as he has personal funds in the Soros Fund for this.

The Foundation itself argues that such infusions are necessary to ensure the functioning of the charity in the long run.

Soros is the founder and head of the hedge fund Soros Fund Management and is among the richest people in the world. Forbes estimates his fortune at $ 25 billion. At the same time, more than 100,000 people in the US, according to polls, recognize him as a terrorist because of his activities.

Comment: See also:


USA

Same as the old boss - Trump's progress report one year later

"Jesus! Where will it end? How low do you have to stoop in this country to be President? ... We've come to a point where every four years this national fever rises up - this hunger for the Saviour, the White Knight, the Man on Horseback - and whoever wins becomes so immensely powerful ... that when you vote for President today you're talking about giving a man dictatorial power for four years... The whole framework of the presidency is getting out of hand. It's come to the point where you almost can't run unless you can cause people to salivate and whip each other with big sticks. You almost have to be a rock star to get the kind of fever you need to survive in American politics." -Hunter S. Thompson, gonzo journalist
Donald Trump
© WSAZ
Here's the question I pose to you: has Donald Trump been a blessing or a curse to the architects of the American police state?

One thing is for sure: a year into his presidency, Trump hasn't done much to improve the lot of the American people.

The predators of the police state are still wreaking havoc on our freedoms, our communities, and our lives. The government still doesn't listen to the citizenry, it still refuses to abide by the Constitution, which is our rule of law, and it still treats the citizenry as a source of funding and little else. Police officers are still shooting unarmed citizens and their household pets. Government agents-including local police-are still being armed to the teeth and encouraged to act like soldiers on a battlefield. Bloated government agencies are still fleecing taxpayers. Government technicians are still spying on our emails and phone calls. Government contractors are still making a killing by waging endless wars abroad.

In other words, the American police state is still alive and well and flourishing.

Nothing has changed.

Rather than draining the corrupt swamps of Washington, as he repeatedly promised, Trump and his brand of reality TV politics have merely redirected our attention.

Trust me, the swamps are still stagnant with corruption.

Indeed, we are still the unwitting victims of a system so corrupt that those who stand up for the rule of law and aspire to transparency in government are in the minority. This corruption is so vast it spans all branches of government-from the power-hungry agencies under the executive branch and the corporate puppets within the legislative branch to a judiciary that is, more often than not, elitist and biased towards government entities and corporations.