Tag: news

Russia’s successful test of its Avangard hypersonic glide missile will almost certainly ignite a full-on arms race panic in the US, according to German newspaper Die Welt. As we noted earlier this week, the missile was launched from a base in the southern Ural Mountains on Wednesday and successfully hit a practice target on Kamchatka 3,700 miles away.

The test launch will likely alarm US intelligence analysts and “provoke a panic” among Pentagon officials because the US has nothing to defend against the missile, the newspaper said, despite the fact that Russia has been working on the weapon since 2002 when the US withdrew from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and began developing anti-ballistic defenses. Earlier this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin teased that the weapon would be ready to deploy within “months”.

The test, according to the paper, is proof of “saber rattling” between the US and Russia as tensions between the two super powers climb to their most intense level since the fall of the Soviet Union.

Although the glider, able to carry megaton-class nuclear weapon, was presented along with SARMAT missile system tests, super-fast drone torpedoes, cruise missiles with nuclear power plants, the air missile system “Kinzhal” as well as laser and hyper-sonic weapons as one of the newest additions to the Russian arms complex in March, the newspaper claims it to be proof of sabre-rattling by the great powers in the wake of US President Donald Trump announcing his country’s withdrawal from the 1987 INF Treaty in October.

What makes Avangard unique is its manoeuverability as the vehicle constantly changes its course and altitude while it flies through the atmosphere, zigzagging on its path to its target, making it impossible to predict the weapon’s location, as former Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov revealed. This characteristic ensures that the target this hypersonic missile is actually heading to remains virtually secret, according to the US think tank Rand Corporation.

As Die Welt explained, US radar and NATO ABM cannot detect or stop the Avangard, which could be a problem considering the US’s decision to withdraw from the INF.

“You have to cover thousands of miles, not hundreds”, chief engineer of the Pentagon and ex-chief of NASA Michael Griffin told an expert panel shortly before the test launch, pointing out at the curvature of the globe, limiting the coverage of radars, taking the vastness of the western Pacific Ocean and the lack of islands for radar.

“There are not many places where radars can be parked. And if you find them, they’ll probably become targets,” Griffin said.

To detect the missile’s launch, the US would probably have to install a network of reconnaissance sensors in space. And as if Russia’s latest test wasn’t troubling enough, Russian engineers noted that China has carried out similar tests.

“China tested more hypersonic weapons last year than we did in a decade. We have to change that,” he stated.

Still, though it has lagged behind in hypersonic weapons development, the Pentagon is struggling to catch up. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency revealed this week that it is seeking new designs for cooling super-hot leading edges of hypersonic vehicles as they rip through the atmosphere as it works to develop its own hypersonic missile. Considering that the New START arms control treaty between the US and Russia will likely expire without an agreement to renew by 2021, that task is probably taking on a renewed urgency.

Watch video of the test below:

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As is usually the case after the holidays, inquiring minds turn their attention to how various assets will fare in the coming new year.

To answer this question, Bloomberg recently published a sample of opinions from top portfolio managers and strategists who shared their views on all asset classes heading into the new year. The common theme: stocks will be risky, volatility is back and returns across all asset classes could be “muted” in the new year.

There were some outliers: Jurrien Timmer of Fidelity Investments was the most bullish on stocks. He believes that earnings growth in the United States will slow to 5% to 7% in 2019. He also thinks that the Fed could raise rates once or twice more and that bonds look “alright” in this environment. Starting the year at what he calls a “reasonable” price to earnings ratio, he predicts that stocks may do better than they did in 2018.

“If you add it all up, it’s not a bad story for stocks — maybe not double-digits, but better,” he said, although Timmer’s optimism was certainly in the minority among his peers. 

Rob Lovelace of Capital Group has tapped into the recent weakness at Apple as a microcosm of what to watch going into the new year. He believes that device companies that lack product diversity, like Samsung, could be dangerous to own in the new year. He also believes that it is time to be a stock picker instead of buying indices.

Kristina Hooper, the chief global market strategist at Invesco recommends emerging market equities in addition to tech stocks and global dividend paying stocks. She also likes commodities – “especially gold“. She believes investors should “sell or decrease” US equities.

Hooper told Bloomberg that her “base case is decelerating but solid growth globally, with the U.S. decelerating as well. I also expect tepid but positive global stock market returns. However, the ‘tails’ are getting fatter as risks, both positive and negative, increase. For example, a quick resolution of the trade war with China could push global growth higher and also push stock market returns higher – especially if the Fed become significantly more dovish. Conversely, an escalation of the trade war with China could put downward pressure on global economic growth and likely push stock markets lower as well – particularly if the Fed is less dovish.”

Meanwhile, PIMCO’s Dan Ivascyn believes that volatility will rise and credit spreads will widen – all while the yield curve flattens in the coming year. He believes these are indications of an economic downturn that’s coming within the next two years. He also believes that increasing cash to have powder for new opportunities – like UK financials after they were crushed on Brexit fears – is a good idea.

“We are beginning to see a few select opportunities around credit, but we remain concerned about credit in general,” he said.

PIMCO’s nemesis, bond king Jeff Gundlach, suggested simply avoiding United States stocks and corporate debt altogether, as well as steering clear of long term treasuries (just in case there is any wonder he is feuding with Jim Cramer). Gundlach believes that the best bets for 2019 are in high-quality, low duration, low volatility bond funds.

During his December 17 interview on CNBC he stated: “This is a capital preservation environment. Unsexy as this sounds, a short-term, high-quality bond portfolio is probably the best way to go as you head into 2019.”

So sad that appearances on CNBC are now a thing of the past. It was great while it lasted. Blame it on Cramer. We’ll be on Fox Business.

— Jeffrey Gundlach (@TruthGundlach) December 21, 2018

Richard Turnill who works for the world’s biggest asset manager BlackRock, said that quality should be the focus in equities: look for companies with good cash flow, sustainable growth and clean balance sheets. He also conceded that a slowdown was inevitable, stating: “We see a slowdown in global growth and corporate earnings in 2019 with the U.S. economy entering a late-cycle phase”.

Meanwhile, Bill Stromberg of T. Rowe Price believes that emerging markets could be the ticket for 2019. “Emerging market stocks are starting out a lot cheaper and have a higher dividend yield. You could get 8 percent to 10 percent returns over the next 10 years. If the U.S. dollar weakens you could get more as a U.S. investor,” he stated.

Joseph Davis of Vanguard Group also says to “expect an economic slowdown”. He believes growth in the U.S. will slow to about 2% and he puts his outlook for equities over the next decade in the 3% to 5% range. 

The dour sentiment was shared by the CIO of equities and multi-asset strategies at Schwab, Omar Aguilar. He says to sell small cap equities and securities with high debt ratios. Instead, he also suggests emerging markets due to their relative valuations. 

“Decelerating global economic growth, increased attention to trade-related development — particularly with China — tighter monetary policies, reduced liquidity, and a mean reversion toward historically average volatility levels are likely to set the tone for equity markets in 2019,” Aguilar said.

The one underlying theme here is that these picks are far less bullish across all asset classes heading into the new year than they were not only at the beginning of the year, but headed into most years during the past decade, which is to be expected at the tail end of the longest bull market on record. While many of these asset managers can sometimes “miss the boat” and their analysis can occasionally be backward looking in nature, the ubiquity of their widespread concern seems to mark a significant sentiment shift heading into the new year.

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In the usual fashion of Egypt’s Sisi-led military junta, security forces have gone into “terror hideouts” guns a blazing after Friday’s bus bombing which left 4 dead and a dozen injured, mostly Vietnamese tourists visiting the Giza Pyramids outside of Cairo, in a casualty toll that climbed from two to four later in the day. The raids killed 40 terrorists according to Egyptian security officials, and authorities announced further the successful counter-terror operation thwarted a planned “series of attacks on tourist sites, churches and military personnel,” according to the BBC.

Reports identified that 30 of the militants were killed during early morning raids by police and military personnel in Giza while a further 10 were ambushed by security forces in Northern Sinai, according to the interior ministry. 

“A group of terrorists were planning to carry out a series of aggressive attacks targeting state institutions, particularly economic ones, as well as tourism… and Christian places of worship,” the ministry statement said. And further the raids were ordered “as a continuation of the ministry’s efforts in chasing terrorist elements involved in the implementation of hostile operations seeking to destabilize the country’s security,” the statement said.

The interior ministry also said police had seized large quantities of bomb-making materials, ammunition and a caches of weapons during the raids, touting these as proof that terror cells were effectively taken out.

Local media circulated government-released images of what are purported to be dead terrorists responsible for planting the roadside bomb in Giza as well as guns and ammunition. 

Yet it remains that no particular group has claimed credit for the attack, leaving questions over whether authorities actually killed the suspects responsible. 

Friday’s attack was the first to target foreign tourists in almost two years, but given that it was carried out near the pyramids of Giza — the most visible and protected ancient site in the country — a massive response by police was expected, and indeed played out rapidly. 

In recent years Egypt has sought to clamp down on Islamic militants, especially those operating in the Sinai Peninsula, as not only have there been an uptick in attacks targeting the country’s sizable Coptic Christian minority, but to protect Egypt’s multi-billion dollar tourism industry — the country’s main economic lifeline that’s been historically threatened following any large-scale terror attack. Terrorists often conduct attacks on tourists knowing it could cripple the economy for years. 

Political instability following the “Arab Spring” protests in 2011 has also wreaked havoc on the tourism industry. For example, annual tourism revenue reached an all-time high of 12.50 USD Billion in 2010 just prior to mass anti-Hosni Mubarak protests, and a record low of 3.80 USD Billion in 2016 following tumultuous period of brief Muslim Brotherhood rule under Mohamed Morsi and a military coup which restored the power of the generals. 

The country’s roughly 10%-15% Christian minority has been routinely targeted by Islamists as well. Egypt’s ancient Orthodox Christian community has often been subject of church burnings and bomb attacks during the Christmas season as worshipers attend services. 

Following Friday’s tour bus bombing, the US State Department condemned the attack, saying, “We stand with all Egyptians in the fight against terrorism and support the Egyptian government in bringing the perpetrators of this attack to justice.” 

Likely, Egyptian security forces will remain trigger happy, ready to respond to terror threats with overwhelming force, given the economic survival of both the regime and the entire country is on the line. 

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Among the more notable geopolitical events that took place last week, and which was swept away by the chaos in the capital markets, was Thursday’s surprising announcement of a Saudi cabinet reshuffle that moved around some of the key players in the Khashoggi murder scandal (most notably the chief Saudi diplomat, Adel al-Jubeir) and removed Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf al Saud as the Kingdom’s ambassador to the UK.

As a result of the reshuffle, more liberals and progressives will move into positions of power, suggesting that it could be part of the Kingdom’s plan to move ahead with its ‘liberalizing’ reforms to try and rehabilitate MbS’s tarnished reputation as a reformer. Amid the reshuffle, the king also ordered the creation of a new political and security council (presumably to help protect his chosen successor’s flank) and – in a move that is reminiscent of a controversial decision made by President Trump this year – establishes a new Saudi space agency.

The biggest change was the apparent demotion of al-Jubeir to the lesser position of minister of state for foreign affairs and moving Ibrahim al-Assaf, formerly the kingdom’s finance minister, to the foreign affairs role. Al-Jubeir who was one of the kingdom’s key liaisons with western media during its response to Khashoggi’s killing and played an important role in the Saudis PR response to the Khashoggi killing, in addition to being a stalwart supporter of the Crown Prince.

But perhaps an even more prominent event took place just ahead of the reshuffle, when on Wednesday the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported that Saudi authorities have re-arrested the brother of billionaire Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal just days following the death of their “reformist” father, after Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the arrest of Khalid bin Talal.

“The arrest took place on Tuesday night and until Wednesday evening Khaled was not released despite some promises,” the report said according to The New Arab.

Like his brother, Prince Khalid was freed in November after being detained for 11 months for criticising a crackdown on the kingdom’s elite that saw dozens of princes, officials and tycoons imprisoned at Riyadh’s Ritz-Carlton hotel. Prince Khalid’s brother Al-Waleed, sometimes called the Warren Buffett of Saudi Arabia (despite his wealth plummeting 60% from its 2014 peak) was among those rounded up and was released in early January after an undisclosed financial agreement with the government.

The arrest came just days after their father Prince Talal bin Abdul Aziz, a half-brother of King Salman, died.  Defiantly liberal and dubbed the “Red Prince”, Talal bin Abdul Aziz was known as a tireless advocate of reform, sometimes in defiance of the royal family.  He was a long-standing advocate of allowing Saudi women to drive, a right that was finally granted to female citizens this year.

And so the bifurcated power moves orchestrated by Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman continue, when on one hand he is eager to demonstrate to the world just how more open and liberal the Kingdom is becoming – especially in the aftermath of the bother Khashoggi assassination – yet on the other MbS continues to quietly sequester and dispose of any potential threats to the throne as he prepares to replace his increasingly senile father.

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Hundreds of Yellow Vest protesters gathered outside France’s BFM TV station for week seven of nationwide protests. 

The protesters chanted various versions of “Fake news journalists come down,” and “Macron out!” at the TV station which one protester told RT France spreads false information about the movement, while purposefully understating the size of its demonstrations. 

Saturday’s protesters were met with tear gas and a heavy police presence, which has become part and parcel to the violent demonstrations of weeks past. 

Police fired tear gas at “yellow vest” demonstrators in Paris on Saturday but the turnout for round seven of the popular protests that have rocked France appeared low.

Several hundred people wearing the symbolic hi-visibility vests had gathered near the offices of France Televisions and the BFM TV channel in the centre of the capital shouting “Fake news” and calling for the resignation of President Emmanuel Macron. –France24

French police deployed tear gas in the city of Rouen in Normandy during a tense stand-off with demonstrators. 

#Update: Around 100 #GiletsJaunes protestors in the french town of #Rouen are making trouble, and police seen throwing Tear gas canisters at the crowd! pic.twitter.com/zunVQv1vcd

— Sotiri Dimpinoudis (@sotiridi) December 29, 2018

La rue Jean-Lecanuet progressivement elle aussi sous les nuages de lacrymo, le cortège des #Giletsjaunes se replie vers l’hôtel de ville pic.twitter.com/mcvzUZffcm

— Jean-Baptiste Morel (@JB__Morel) December 29, 2018

On Thursday a group of Yellow Vest demonstrators attempted to storm French President Emmanuel Macron’s summer retreat, though it is unclear if he was present at the time. Macron came under fire for a $39,000 swimming pool he had installed at the coastal fort. 

The Yellow Vest protests began over a planned fuel-price hikes linked to climate change measures, however they soon evolved into a general protest against the Macron government. While the fuel hikes were temporarily postponed for six months, protesters continue to call for Macron’s resignation.

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In a series of tweets that are tailor made to elicit howls of outrage from Trump’s political opponents, President Trump on Saturday blamed the Democrats for the deaths of two migrant children who have died in the custody of the border patrol over the past month, arguing that if Democrats had only approved money to build the wall, that migrants wouldn’t even try to cross into the US in the first place.

The tweet is the first comment from the White House since the death of the second child on Christmas Eve. Following the death of the first migrant child earlier this month, the White House released a statement saying that the “horrific, tragic” death of a child from dehydration was not its responsibility.

According to Trump, “Any deaths of children or others at the Border are strictly the fault of the fault of the Democrats and their pathetic immigration policies that allow people to make the long trek thinking they can enter our country illegally. They can’t. If we had a Wall, they wouldn’t even try!”

On the surface, Trump’s tweets would seem to contradict a statement made by Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen following the death of the second child. Nielsen said the death on Christmas Eve of an 8-year-old Guatemalan boy in federal detention was a “deeply concerning and heartbreaking” tragedy – though she also cited failings in the “US immigration system” for facilitating the tragedy. She also called for more medical exams for children taken into custody.

Any deaths of children or others at the Border are strictly the fault of the Democrats and their pathetic immigration policies that allow people to make the long trek thinking they can enter our country illegally. They can’t. If we had a Wall, they wouldn’t even try! The two…..

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 29, 2018

Trump followed up his first tweet with a second apparently absolving the border patrol, claiming that both children were already “very sick” when they were taken into custody.

…children in question were very sick before they were given over to Border Patrol. The father of the young girl said it was not their fault, he hadn’t given her water in days. Border Patrol needs the Wall and it will all end. They are working so hard & getting so little credit!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 29, 2018

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Authored by Philip Giraldi via The Strategic Culture Foundation,

The resignation letter of Secretary of Defense James Mattis that was published last Thursday revealed much of the Deep State mindset that has produced the foreign policy catastrophes of the past seventeen years. Mattis, an active duty general in the Marine Corps who reportedly occasionally reads books, received a lot of good press during his time at Defense, sometimes being referred to as “the only adult in the room” when President Donald Trump’s national security and foreign policy team was meeting. Conveniently forgotten are Mattis comments relating to how to “Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet.” His sobriquet in the Corps was “Mad Dog.”

In the media firestorm that has followed upon General Mattis’s resignation, he has been generally lauded as a highly experienced and respected leader who has numerous friends on both sides of the aisle in Congress. Of course, the press coverage should be taken with a grain of salt as it is designed less to praise Mattis and more to get at Trump over the decision to leave Syria, which is being assailed by both neoliberals and neoconservatives who believe that war is the health of the state.

The arguments against the Trump decisions to depart from Syria and downsize in Afghanistan are contrived for the most part and based on the premise that American intervention in places that Washington deems not to be sufficiently promoting democracy, rule of law and free trade is a good thing. Peter Ford, former British Ambassador to Syria, put it nicely when discussing the reaction in the media:

“Trump’s critics…will have the vapors about ‘losing ground to Russia’, ‘making Iran’s day’, and ‘abdicating influence,’ but their criticism is ill-founded. Contrary to their apparent belief, the US does not have a God-given right to send its forces anywhere on the planet it deems fit. Withdrawal will see the US in one respect at least follow the international rules-based system we are so fond of enjoining on others, and will therefore be a victory of sorts for upholders of international law.”

The central argument of the Mattis resignation letter that is being cited by critics relates to Washington’s relationship with the rest of the world and is framed as a failure by President Trump to understand who are friends and who are enemies. Mattis wrote

“One core belief I have always held is that our strength as a nation is inextricably linked to the strength of our unique and comprehensive system of alliances and partnerships. While the US remains the indispensable nation in the free world, we cannot protect our interests or serve that role effectively without maintaining strong alliances and showing respect to those allies.

“Similarly, I believe we must be resolute and unambiguous in our approach to those countries whose strategic interests are increasingly in tension with ours. It is clear that China and Russia, for example, want to shape a world consistent with their authoritarian model – gaining veto authority over other nations’ economic, diplomatic, and security decisions – to promote their own interests at the expense of their neighbors, America and our allies. That is why we must use all the tools of American power to provide for the common defense.

“My views on treating allies with respect and also being clear-eyed about both malign actors and strategic competitors are strongly held and informed by over four decades of immersion in these issues. We must do everything possible to advance an international order that is most conducive to our security, prosperity and values, and we are strengthened in this effort by the solidarity of our alliances.”

General Mattis does indeed hold views that were shaped by four decades of experience, but most of it was bad and produced wrong conclusions about America’s place in the world. The Cold War was essentially a bi-polar conflict pitting two adversaries that had the ability to destroy all life on the planet. It generated a Manichean viewpoint on good vs. evil that did not reflect reality which was succeeded by a global war on terror declared by Washington that also exploited the good and evil paradigm. Mattis was a product of that kind of thinking, which was also fueled by the concept of American exceptionalism, which saw the United States as the proper promoter and enforcer of universal values.

There is, of course, another viewpoint, which is that American blundering and use of force as a first option has, in fact, created the current dystopia. The United States is not currently venerated as a force for good, quite the opposite. Opinion polls suggest that Washington is overwhelmingly viewed negatively worldwide and it is perceived as being the nation most likely to start wars. That is not exactly what the nation’s Founders envisioned back in 1783.

Trump is right about leaving Syria where nothing beyond prolonging the bloody conflict is being accomplished. Mattis is wrong about supporting “friends.” For an educated man, he misreads history. The First World War and Second World War developed as they did because of alliances. Countries that appear friendly can exploit relationships with other more powerful nations that will have devastating results.

Alliances should be temporary, coming and going based on the interests of the nations involved. In the Middle East, Israel and Saudi Arabia are not actually friends of the United States, and are engaged instead in manipulating Washington to suit their own purposes. Mattis does not understand that and sees a permanent state of war requiring the continued existence of NATO, for example, as a vehicle for deterrence and peace. It is neither. Its very existence depends on a perception of being threatened even where no threat exists, which has poisoned the relationship with Russia since the fall of communism. Worse still, that false perception of threat can lead to war and a global nuclear holocaust.

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An Atlanta vape shop employee with a prominent neckbeard is out of a job after getting megatriggered by a customer wearing a Trump t-shirt and a “Make America Great Again” hat. 

The employee of Xhale City denied service to the Trump-supporting customer, screaming “If you do not stop recording in my store, I’m going to call the police and ask you to leave,” to which the customer encouraged the employee to call the cops. 

“F*ck off dude! F*ck off! Get the f*ck out of here!,” screeched the employee, who then went on a rant calling President Trump a “treasonous asshole,” before assaulting the customer.

“Leave the store! Leave the store! Leave the store! F*ck off! Get the f*ck out!” screamed the employee, as an African American customer stood by watching the incident. 

In response to the incident, Xhale City announced over Facebook that the employee had been terminated. They have since shut down their Facebook page. 

“Tonight, we had an employee act improperly toward a customer,” reads the statement. “Xhale City does not tolerate this kind of behavior from its employees.  When we identified the employee at fault, we fired him immediately. We’ve also spoken to the customer and apologized. We value our clients and treat them with respect and dignity, regardless of their political views.” 

(h/t The Gateway Pundit)

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For over two years now, the concepts of “Russian collusion” and “Russian election meddling” have been shoved down our throats by the mainstream media (MSM) under the guise of legitimate concern that the Kremlin may have installed a puppet president in Donald Trump. 

Having no evidence of collusion aside from a largely unverified opposition-research dossier fabricated by a former British spy, the focus shifted from “collusion” to “meddling” and “influence.” In other words, maybe Trump didn’t actually collude with Putin, but the Kremlin used Russian tricks to influence the election in Trump’s favor. 

To some, this looked like nothing more than an establishment scheme to cast a permanent spectre of doubt over the legitimacy of President Donald J. Trump. 

Election meddling “Russian bots” and “troll farms” became the central focus – as claims were levied of social media operations conducted by Kremlin-linked organizations which sought to influence and divide certain segments of America. 

And while scant evidence of a Russian influence operation exists outside of a handful of indictments connected to a St. Petersburg “Troll farm” (which a liberal journalist cast serious doubt over), the MSM – with all of their proselytizing over the “threat to democracy” that election meddling poses, has largely decided to ignore actual evidence of “Russian bots” created by Democrat IT experts, used against a GOP candidate in the Alabama special election, and amplified through the Russian bot-detecting “Hamilton 68” dashboard developed by the same IT experts. 

Russian trolls tracked by #Hamilton68 are taking an interest in the AL Senate race. What a surprise. pic.twitter.com/Nz1PNmuT2R

— Jonathon Morgan (@jonathonmorgan) November 10, 2017

Democratic operative Jonathon Morgan – bankrolled by LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, pulled a Russian bot “false flag” operation against GOP candidate Roy Moore in the Alabama special election last year – creating thousands of fake social media accounts designed to influence voters. Hoffman has since apologized, while Morgan was suspended by Facebook for “coordinated inauthentic” behavior. 

As Russian state-owned RT puts it – and who could blame them for being a bit pissed over the whole thing, “it turns out there really was meddling in American democracy by “Russian bots.” Except they weren’t run from Moscow or St. Petersburg, but from the offices of Democrat operatives chiefly responsible for creating and amplifying the “Russiagate” hysteria over the past two years in a textbook case of psychological projection.” 

A week before Christmas, the Senate Intelligence Committee released a report accusing Russia of depressing Democrat voter turnout by targeting African-Americans on social media. Its authors, New Knowledge, quickly became a household name.

Described by the New York Times as a group of “tech specialists who lean Democratic,” New Knowledge has ties to both the US military and intelligence agencies. Its CEO and co-founder Jonathon Morgan previously worked for DARPA, the US military’s advanced research agency. His partner, Ryan Fox, is a 15-year veteran of the National Security Agency who also worked as a computer analyst for the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). Their unique skill sets have managed to attract the eye of investors, who pumped $11 million into the company in 2018 alone.

…

On December 19, a New York Times story revealed that Morgan and his crew had created a fake army of Russian bots, as well as fake Facebook groups, in order to discredit Republican candidate Roy Moore in Alabama’s 2017 special election for the US Senate.

Working on behalf of the Democrats, Morgan and his crew created an estimated 1,000 fake Twitter accounts with Russian names, and had them follow Moore. They also operated several Facebook pages where they posed as Alabama conservatives who wanted like-minded voters to support a write-in candidate instead.

In an internal memo, New Knowledge boasted that it had “orchestrated an elaborate ‘false flag’ operation that planted the idea that the Moore campaign was amplified on social media by a Russian botnet.”

It worked. The botnet claim made a splash on social media and was further amplified by Mother Jones, which based its story on expert opinion from Morgan’s other dubious creation, Hamilton 68. –RT

Moore ended up losing the Alabama special election by a slim margin of just 

In other words: In November 2017 – when Moore and his Democratic opponent were in a bitter fight to win over voters – Morgan openly promoted the theory that Russian bots were supporting Moore’s campaign. A year later – after being caught red-handed orchestrating a self-described “false flag” operation – Morgan now says that his team never thought that the bots were Russian and have no idea what their purpose was. Did he think no one would notice? –RT

Disinformation warrior @jonathonmorgan attempts to control damage by lying. He now claims the “false flag operation” never took place and the botnet he promoted as Russian-linked (based on phony Hamilton68 Russian troll tracker he developed) wasn’t Russian https://t.co/N4EEjz49mB pic.twitter.com/qfNcVIRQsD

— Dan Cohen (@dancohen3000) December 29, 2018

Even more strange is that Scott Shane – the journalist who wrote the New York Times piece exposing the Alabama “Russian bot” scheme, knew about it for months after speaking at an event where the organizers bragged about the false flag on Moore. 

Shane was one of the speakers at a meeting in September, organized by American Engagement Technologies, a group run by Mikey Dickerson, President Barack Obama’s former tech czar. Dickerson explained how AET spent $100,000 on New Knowledge’s campaign to suppress Republican votes, “enrage” Democrats to boost turnout, and execute a “false flag” to hrt Moore. He dubbed it “Project Birmingham.” –RT

A lightly-redacted copy of the internal @NewKnowledgeAI report has been leaked and claims at least partial credit for Doug Jones’ victory. Details follow👇https://t.co/wUYHVHTDIU

— Dan Cohen (@dancohen3000) December 28, 2018

Shane told BuzzFeed that he was “shocked” by the revelations, though hid behind a nondisclosure agreement at the request of American Engagement Technologies (AET). He instead chose to spin the New Knowledge “false flag” operation on Moore as “limited Russian tactics” which were part of an “experiment” that had a budget of “only” $100,000 – and which had no effect on the election. 

New Knowledge suggested that the false flag operation was simply a “research project,” which Morgan suggested was designed “to better understand and report on the tactics and effects of social media disinformation.”  

My statement on this evening’s NYT article. pic.twitter.com/lsJuRqiffL

— Jonathon Morgan (@jonathonmorgan) December 20, 2018

While the New York Times seemed satisfied with his explanation, others pointed out that Morgan had used the Hamilton 68 dashboard to give his “false flag” more credibility – misleading the public about a “Russian” influence campaign that he knew was fake.

New Knowledge’s protestations apparently didn’t convince Facebook, which announced last week that five accounts linked to New Knowledge – including Morgan’s – had been suspended  for engaging in “coordinated inauthentic behavior.” –RT

They knew exactly what they were doing

While Morgan and New Knowledge sought to frame the “Project Birmingham” as a simple research project, a leaked copy of the operation’s after-action report reveals that they knew exactly what they were doing. 

“We targeted 650,000 like AL voters, with a combination of persona accounts, astroturfing, automated social media amplification and targeted advertising,” reads the report published by entrepreneur and executive coach Jeff Giesea. 

BREAKING: Here’s the after-action report from the AL Senate disinfo campaign.

**an exclusive release by @JeffGiesea https://t.co/VXrCeb8LAD

— Jeff Giesea🌿 (@jeffgiesea) December 28, 2018

The rhetorical question remains, why did the MSM drop this election meddling story like a hot rock after the initial headlines faded away?  

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