Puppet MastersS


Cow Skull

2,061 of Citigroup's subsidiaries vanish from public filings

Pam Martens
Wallstreetonparade.com
Mon, 11 Aug 2014 13:05 UTC
Image
© Wallstreetonparade.com
Meet the new, slimmed down, less complex, more manageable Citigroup. Or not.

Figuring out what Citigroup owns and what it has sold is getting harder by the day as a vast number of its subsidiaries in the 160 countries in which it operates have up and vanished from its public filings but do not actually appear to have been sold in many cases.

One can understand why the global bank's Federal regulators have thrown up their hands in despair and sent it back to the drawing board on its capital plans and so-called "living will" measures to unwind itself should its future insolvency threaten the financial system as it did in 2008.

According to Citigroup's annual 10K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the number of Citigroup's subsidiaries have shrunk by a whopping 91.8 percent since December 31, 2008. Or not.

Take the case of Automated Trading Desk (ATD). One could certainly see why Citigroup would like to forget it owns that company. Citigroup paid $680 million for the company when it bought it in 2007. Five years later, it paid another $590 million to settle a class action lawsuit by ATD's key shareholders who alleged they had been defrauded.
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Laptop

Russia's Presidential Administration orders research on youth web preferences


RT
Mon, 11 Aug 2014 10:03 UTC
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© RIA Novosti/Artem ZhitenevParticipants of the Seliger 2014 youth forum in Tver Region, in a library.
Russia's Presidential Administration wants to study the effectiveness of election campaigns online in general, and social networks in particular, seeking to understand the preferences of the younger generation in the rapidly-changing political reality.

The companies that will be conducting the research were chosen in a tender and two winners are groups in the St. Petersburg State University, reports the Nezavisimaya Gazeta daily. They will work with latest examples of public unions' participation in polls, analyze the current government restrictions in the web sphere and prepare some suggestions on how to alter the Russian laws governing the internet.

According to the newspaper, the initial idea of the study appeared after the August mayoral poll in Moscow, which became the political debut of the popular anti-corruption blogger Aleksey Navalny. The activist received over 35 percent of the votes, coming second after incumbent Mayor Sergey Sobyanin, representing (albeit not officially) the parliamentary majority United Russia party.

This relative success was an unpleasant surprise for the authorities and now the presidential administration is seeking to brace the same modern political strategies, Nezavisimaya Gazeta claims.
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MIB

Germany asks other countries to identify their spies


RT
Mon, 11 Aug 2014 03:49 UTC
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© Reuters/Arnd Wiegmann
Germany is asking foreign diplomatic missions to reveal the names of secret service agents working in the country, a report states. It comes amid the spy row between Berlin and Washington, following revelations from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

The German Foreign Ministry sent a note verbale to all the foreign embassies in Berlin on Wednesday, urging them to submit "lists of names of all active agents," Der Spiegel reported. The note was also addressed to consulates, cultural institutions, and intelligence apparatuses.

The Foreign Ministry reportedly expects its non-binding request to be answered by all the embassies. The ministry did not deny the information to AFP.

Media reports suggested that Germany's request was triggered by Berlin's disappointment with Washington's denials that US spies are operating in the country. Spiegel estimates that there are around 200 US intelligence officers operating in Germany under diplomatic passports.
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Attention

The U.S. airstrikes in Northern Iraq are all about oil

John B. Judis
New Republic
Fri, 08 Aug 2014 08:20 UTC
iraq oil
© Unknown
Last night, President Barack Obama announced that he was authorizing American airtstrikes in Iraq. He described his intervention as a "humanitarian effort to help save thousands of Iraqi civilians who are trapped on a mountain" and as an effort "to protect our American personnel." One word that he didn't mention is "oil," but it lies near the center of American motives for intervention.

The United States is conducting airdrops to aid the Yazidis who have fled the advance of Islamic State militants, but it is conducting airstrikes around Erbil, which is to the east. There are American consular personnel in Erbil, but they could be evacuated if necessary. What Obama left unsaid was that Erbil, a city of 1.5 million, is the capital of the Kurdish regional government and the administrative center of its oil industry, which accounts for about a quarter of Iraq's oil. The Kurds claim that if they were to become an independent state, they would have the ninth-largest oil reserves in the world. And oil wells are near Erbil.

Comment: Given the US track record, securing oil resources makes much more sense as a reason for airstrikes than media assisted propagation of stories on how 'humanitarian aid' must be delivered to the Yazidis. When have they ever cared about innocent citizens of countries they bomb?

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Info

Russia flexes its gas pipeline muscles, Europe screams: Ukraine quickly backs off

Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge
Mon, 11 Aug 2014 08:09 UTC
ukraine gas pipeline
© eia.govNatural gas pipelines from Russia to Europe through Ukraine
That didn't take long.

A few short days after Ukraine's always entertaining puppet government, whose very existence is to benefit its western overlords and certainly Victoria Nuland's superiors, briefly forgot it has absolutely zero leverage should it alienate not only Russia but also Europe (read Angela Merkel) and announced it may halt Russian energy transits through the country (i.e., Russian gas deliveries for Germany) without obtaining Angela Merkel's preapproval to such a ridiculous threat, Europe - suffering a major flashback to early 2009 and realizing winter is just around the corner - promptly reminded Kiev just who is in control and advised its puppets that it opposes any Ukrainian cut-off of Russian gas, Bloomberg reports citing an EU official.
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Rocket

U.S. suspects Israelis stole 1960s missing uranium

John R. Emshwiller
The Wall Street Journal
Wed, 06 Aug 2014 07:41 UTC
Officials believed ally used materials lifted from Pennsylvania toward a weapons program

red bomb zion israel
© americanfreepress.net
Declassified documents from the 1970s provide new evidence that federal officials believed bomb-grade uranium that disappeared from a Pennsylvania nuclear facility in the 1960s was likely taken for use in a clandestine Israeli atomic-weapons program.

The documents, obtained earlier this year through public-records requests by a Washington-based nonprofit group, also indicate that senior officials wanted to keep the matter under wraps for fear it could undermine U.S. Middle East peace efforts.

Though the Central Intelligence Agency's case for the suspected theft wasn't conclusive, it was sufficiently persuasive that "I do not think that the President has plausible deniability" regarding the question, said a memo dated July 28, 1977, by a National Security Council staffer in President Jimmy Carter's administration.

A security council memo to Mr. Carter a few days later expressed more uncertainty about whether a theft had occurred, but noted that then-Secretary of State Cyrus Vance had a coming Middle East trip and discussed the need to keep attention "away from the CIA's information."

The question of whether one of America's closest allies was involved in the theft of some of its most valuable and dangerous material in pursuit of nuclear weapons has been one of the enduring mysteries of the atomic age. The suspected theft has drawn the attention of at least three presidents and other senior government officials.
The evidence suggested that "something did transpire," said Zbigniew Brzezinski, Mr. Carter's national-security adviser, in a recent interview. "But until you have conclusive evidence you don't want to make an international incident. This is a potentially very explosive, controversial issue." Besides, he added, even if a theft was proved, "What are we going to say to the Israelis, 'Give it back?'"

Comment: Was it stolen? Was it "allowed" to be stolen? Israel seems to have carte blanche for any and all aggression and does so without consequences. Some suggest there are Israeli nukes planted around the globe as its leverage. Some say Israel is the Number One national security threat. Some speculate the Mossad has U.S. nuclear launch codes. Consider the Samson Option outlined in the video below. Could Israel be holding the rest of the world hostage and is that why it remains untouchable? Is that why the official answer to the missing uranium will never come to light?


See also: Declassified FBI and CIA docs confirm Israel stole US uranium to build nukes in 1950s

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Pistol

Cannon fodder: Another wave of drafting in the Ukraine

Vladislav Gulevich
Stop NATO
Fri, 08 Aug 2014 20:08 UTC
Ukrainian government wants to draft more recruits. After serious losses inflicted by the rebels to Ukrainian army in eastern part of the country, Kiev plans to use more young men as cannon fodder: Ukrainian families uneasily expect the third draft of young men in Ukrainian military. The latter two took place in spring. But not only young men will be drafted: Kiev enhanced the age level of mobilized persons up to 60 years.

This intention caused hot debates in Ukrainian parliament. A Congressman Nikolay Levchenko went so far as to criticize the belligerent plans of Ukrainian government and was attacked by his counterparts of nationalistic stance. Beaten and humiliated, Mr Levchenko was dragged out of the assembly and couldn't get in again.

After the victory of EuroMaidan Ukrainian right extremists get the opportunity to take offices in governmental bodies. It has a sad impact on the working process of such bodies. Mr. Levchenko was not the only Congressman attacked directly in the parliament for his outspoken moral position. Another victim of Ukrainian "freedom of speech" was leader of Communist Party of Ukraine Petr Simonenko who also was beaten for his anti-war declarations. As Ukrainian Communists take uncompromising anti-war position the government is widely discussing the impending prohibition of Communist Party of Ukraine. So far the Communists were excluded from the parliament by pro-governmental parties.

Comment: Eerily reminds us of the German Volkssturm in WW2 - a definite sign of desperation. But a wounded animal is the most dangerous of them all!

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Cards

IDF Hamas Human Shield Manual a sloppy forgery: The evidence


SCG
Fri, 08 Aug 2014 23:27 UTC
On August 4, 2014 the IDF released what they claimed to be scans of a captured Hamas combat manual which explains the benefits of human shields (Captured Hamas Combat Manual Explains Benefits of Human Shields). This juicy story got quite a few people excited, and within 2 days their blog post had over 81,000 likes on Facebook. It turns out though, that the documents that they uploaded were forgeries, and sloppy forgeries at that. The work was so shoddy that you don't even have to be an expert to see the mistake. Let's take a a look.

Alright, so the IDF uploaded these two tiny, low res images. One of them is 452 pixels wide and 280 pixels tall and the other is 437 pixels wide and 475 pixels tall.
Hamas manual
[UPDATE August 8th] After reading some of the comments I realized that I shouldn't have taken for granted that people would understand how to properly assess the alignment of a font. To clarify, I have uploaded the PSD file that I used to measure the position of the fonts. It is important to make sure that you are measuring from the BASELINE of the font (see image below), and that you distinguish between the font baseline and aliasing (partially faded pixelation) that occurs on the curves. Now it's important to note that if one mistakenly assesses the baseline by including the aliasing you may end up with a pixel of difference between the two sides, (someone who knows nothing about fonts may include a descender or a loop, but this would be an extreme error), however even a one or two pixel difference from a poor measurement would NOT account for the amount of distortion that would occur if this text was really siting on a curved page.

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Rocket

Russia to deploy fifth-generation fighters and S-500 missiles in 2016


RT
Sun, 10 Aug 2014 22:11 UTC
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© RIA NovostiThe fourth prototype Т-50 fifth generation jet fighter
In 2016, the Russian military will start deploying two advanced weapons, the fifth-generation fighter jet PAK FA and the long-range surface-to-air missile systems S-500, chief of the Russian Air Forces said.

Lieutenant General Viktor Bondarev gave an outline of his branch's modernization plans, including the build-up of Arctic infrastructure, in a radio interview with the Russian News Service station on Sunday.

The flight trials of PAK FA (T-50) will soon be over, and in 2016 the Air Force is planning to start commissioning the aircraft into service, the general said.

PAK FA is Russia's first fifth-generation fighter jet built by the Sukhoi Corporation. So far five prototypes have been completed and are undergoing various tests. The fighter is scheduled to eventually replace Sukhoi Su-27s.

"It took part in the [international pilot competition] Aviadarts twice and performed aerobatic flights in pair. I believe the aircraft has a brilliant future," the general said.
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Apple Red

You broke it, you bought it: Poland asks US to buy apples banned by Russia


RT
Sun, 10 Aug 2014 21:16 UTC
Image
© Reuters / Filip Klimaszewski
Poland has asked the US to purchase the country's apples after Moscow banned all food imports from the EU, the US, and other countries who imposed sanctions on Russia over the Ukraine crisis.

Prior to the full embargo on food exports from the West, Russia's agricultural watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor banned the import of practically all fruits and vegetables from Poland, citing a breach of food safety standards.

"We are interested in a quick decision because the situation is extraordinary," said Poland's ambassador to Washington, Ryszard Schnepf, as quoted by Polish press agency PAP.

He added that he had met with Michael Scuse, a senior official in the US Department of Agriculture, and discussed the opening of the US market to Polish apple producers.

"He told us to begin the procedure," he said, adding that the next meeting with US agricultural officials is planned for August 18.

Comment:

It is clear to those with eyes to see that Poland has bet on the wrong horse, again. And again. By supporting the US in its aggression against Russia, the country is losing both from moral and practical points of view. It's like watching a degenerate gambler.

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