Puppet MastersS


Newspaper

India summons Turkish envoy over Erdogan's remarks in Pakistan on Kashmir

Sanjeev Miglani
Reuters
Mon, 17 Feb 2020 19:45 UTC
Secruity at Dal Lake Sri Nagar
© REUTERS/Danish IsmailForeign diplomats are seen in boats as Indian security force personnel stand guard on the banks of Dal Lake in Srinagar February 12, 2020.
India summoned the Turkish ambassador on Monday to lodge a diplomatic protest over President Tayyip Erdogan's remarks on the disputed region of Kashmir and warned it would have a bearing on bilateral ties.

During a visit to Pakistan last week, Erdogan said the situation in Indian Kashmir was worsening because of sweeping changes New Delhi introduced in the Muslim-majority territory and that Turkey stood in solidarity with the people of Kashmir.

India, which considers all of Kashmir an integral part of the country, told Turkish envoy Sakir Ozkan Torunlar that Erdogan's comments lacked any understanding of the history of the Kashmir dispute, the Indian foreign ministry said.
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Chess

Iran will only negotiate with US if Washington returns to nuclear deal, lifts sanctions - Rouhani


Sputnik
Mon, 17 Feb 2020 18:12 UTC
rouhani
© Reuters / Official Presidential WebsiteIranian President Hassan Rouhani salutes the crowd during the commemoration of the 41st anniversary of the Islamic revolution in Tehran
On 8 May, 2018, US President Donald Trump announced Washington's unilateral withdrawal from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, reinstating harsh economic sanctions against Tehran.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has stated that Tehran will only sit down with Washington if the US returns to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and scraps sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

"Iran will never negotiate under pressure ... We will never yield to America's pressure and we will not negotiate from a position of weakness. America's 'maximum pressure' towards Iran is doomed to failure", Rouhani told reporters in Tehran on Sunday.

He pointed out that the Iranian economy is still thriving in the face of the US "maximum pressure" policy toward Tehran.

Comment: Rouhani reinforced Iran's position in a recent speech:
Tehran "will never negotiate under pressure," Rouhani reiterated in an address quoted by local media. Iran "will never yield to America's pressure" and will not negotiate "from a position of weakness."

The Iranian people withstood the US sanctions - re-instated in 2018 by the Trump administration following the withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear accord - "despite all the hardships of our nation," he said.
Although the situation is tougher than last year... all the indicators show that we have overcome the issue of maximum American pressure. Surely Americans have concluded that the path they have chosen is incorrect and will not affect [the] Iranian people.
The 'maximum pressure' policy involved freezing Iranian assets abroad, paralyzing its banking sector, and bringing its oil trade to zero.

According to Rouhani, Iran will carry on resisting "with the same strength and power next year," which will eventually see "the enemy" returning to the negotiating table.
Rouhani also hailed the fact that Iran, much like Russia, has increased in strength as a result of the sanctions:
The Iranian military industry, Khamenei proclaimed in front of Air Force commanders and other military officials, has become so viable because it didn't rely on foreign support, instead developing domestic capabilities. This approach could be extended into other industries as well, he said, according to local media.
... Despite sanctions being a criminal act, such an approach can create a lot of opportunities.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also added that Iran is not a threat to any country, but that it seeks to preserve its own security.


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Whistle

NSA whistleblower Binney: There was no Russian hack, despite Stone prosecution claims

Kari Donovan
National File
Mon, 17 Feb 2020 19:48 UTC
William Binney
© World News DailyWilliam Binney, whistleblower, architect NSA's surveillance program
Bill Binney, a 32 year National Security Agency expert, has made a sworn declaration that Wiki-leaks did not receive stolen data from the Russian government, intrinsic metadata shows that the data in question was put on a thumb drive and physically taken from the DNC.

National File received a copy of the three-page sworn declaration made by leading intelligence community expert Binney for Roger Stone, in which he makes a convincing case that neither Russia nor any other foreign country hacked the DNC emails during the 2016 Presidential election.

In the testimony, Binney, a 32-year National Security Agency expert, says that Wikileaks did not receive stolen data from the Russian government. Rather, intrinsic metadata shows that the data in questions was put on a thumb drive and physically taken from the DNC.

Comment:

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Bizarro Earth

Prince Andrew's links to alleged pedophile and rapist fashion tycoon Peter Nygard revealed in new abuse scandal

James Gordon
Daily Mail
Fri, 14 Feb 2020 16:48 UTC
Nygard
Nygard founded clothing producer Nygard International and is known as an eccentric playboy
Canadian clothing tycoon billionaire, Peter Nygard, 77, has been accused of luring at least 10 young teenagers to his mansion in the Bahamas under the guise that he would help them with their modelling careers.

A lawsuit filed in the Southern District of New York claimed that Nygard plied his subjects with alcohol and drugs before they were violently assaulted, raped and sodomized.

The case could prove embarrassing for Prince Andrew - who once stayed at Nygard's mansion - linking him to another high profile billionaire accused of sexual abusing young women.

Comment: Just yesterday an employee speaking through Denise George, Attorney General of the US Virgin Islands, involved in the case against Epstein, claims that he saw Prince Andrew brazenly 'groping girls' on a balcony on paedophile Jeffrey Epstein's paradise island:
Ms George, who is taking legal action against Epstein's £500 million estate to prevent his lawyers from 'hiding' his assets, told Vanity Fair magazine: 'An employee told me that he saw Prince Andrew on a balcony out at Little St James groping girls right out in the open. He said he remembered walking up to him and saying, 'Good morning, your Highness.'

In the interview with Vanity Fair on Friday, Ms George said former employees of Epstein should be released from non-disclosure agreements they had signed with him.

She claims lawyers acting for his estate have said they will only compensate his victims if they agree not to sue anyone else associate with his crimes.

'These are victims who have been raped by other people. They're trying to protect their friends and it's not fair to the victims,' she said. '

Ms George's comments come at the end of yet another bruising week for Andrew, who will celebrate his 60th birthday on Wednesday.

Last night, Buckingham Palace declined to comment.
See also:

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Star of David

Division within the ranks? J Street calls for Democratic Israel support group DMFI to take down Sanders attack ad

Eric Cortellessa
Times of Israel
Sun, 16 Feb 2020 19:02 UTC
sanders new hampshire
© Matt Rourke/Associated PressDemocratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, Independent-Vermont., arrives to speak to supporters at a primary night election rally in Manchester, New Hampshire, February 11, 2020.
The liberal Zionist organization J Street called on Saturday for a pro-Israel Democratic group to take down an ad attacking presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.

Ahead of the February 22 Nevada caucuses, the Democratic Majority for Israel (DMFI) was unleashing TV ads in the Silver State blasting the Vermont senator on the idea that he's not electable, Mediaite reported.

"DMFI in reality represents a minority of pro-Israel Democrats who seem more concerned with targeting progressives over Israel policy than with confronting the destructive agenda of Donald Trump," said J Street president Jeremy Ben-Ami.

Comment: And yet:

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Binoculars

Best of the Web: Report on Ukrainegate, and why there will never be a real investigation

Gordon M. Hahn
Gordonhahn.com
Mon, 17 Feb 2020 18:38 UTC
zlochevskii biden
Zlochevskii and Biden
Introduction

American and Ukrainian government and court documents seem to show that the Barak Obama administration and certainly various State Department, CIA, and DNC officials (such as the whistleblower who shall not be named and Alexandra Chalupa) conspired to frame then presidential candidate Donald Trump and perhaps Russia in trumped up collusion conspiracies. If things are as the documents suggest, this was nothing other than an attempt first to defeat Trump at the ballot box and after that failed to overthrow a legally elected president in a color revolution from above by impeachment. The operation was not limited to 'just' the discredited Steele Dossier, the overinflated Russian troll factory's work on social websites, and false reports of Russian hacking of state election commissions. It may very well include the fake of an alleged Russian hack of Democratic National Committee servers in a broad and running conspiracy. These measures evolved into what the lawyer of one of the conspirators himself called at the time a "coup".

It appears that new data show that the Obama administration through Burisma, the gas company on whose board former VP Joe Biden's troubled son Hunter served, and PrivatBank, both owned by Ukrainian criminal oligarch Igor Kolomoiskii and in which $8 billion in US aid were 'lost', laundered money or at least covered up Kolomoiskii's theft of US government economic assistance both to take kickbacks and perhaps to finance Ukraine's ultra-nationalist-neofascist-dominated volunteer battalions fighting the Donbass civil war without congressional approval. These battalions, neofascist groups such as Right Sector and their members have committed war crimes and some of their members have been involved in terrorist attacks targeting government officials and journalists. In 2018, matters went too far, and Congress blocked the neofascist Azov Battalion from receiving military training. In connection with all this and in the wake of the collapse of the Democrats' impeachment effort against President Trump, relevant documents now have been submitted to Senators Charles Grassley (R-IA) and Ron Johnson (R-WI), and the senators in turn have requested Secret Service documents on the travels of VP Joseph Biden's son Hunter Biden and received from the Treasury Department documents "highly sensitive and closely held financial records about Hunter Biden and his associates".
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Propaganda

'Conscience-free journalism is great career choice': Guardian mocked over failure to mention Assange in 'press freedom' article


RT
Mon, 17 Feb 2020 15:59 UTC
Assange protest
© REUTERS / Hannah MckayDemonstrators hold placards as they protest outside of Westminster Magistrates Court.
The Guardian newspaper has been mercilessly ridiculed on social media after it failed to highlight the plight of journalist Julian Assange in a piece on Amal Clooney's plans to "combat media repression globally."

The outlet's diplomatic editor Patrick Wintour published an article on Monday focused on the 'Report on the Use of Targeted Sanctions to Protect Journalists,' a document drafted by prominent human rights barrister, Amal Clooney.

Clooney, who represented the WikiLeaks co-founder during Swedish extradition proceedings against him in 2015, has suggested that the UK introduce a law that targets sanctions against individuals, including ministers, who abuse human rights such as freedom of expression.

Wintour reports that "The aim is to target anyone throwing journalists in jail, or shutting down the internet," without even a brief mention of Assange. The journalist is currently holed up in Britain's notorious Belmarsh Prison awaiting his UK court hearing on US extradition in what has been widely criticized as the American government suppressing press freedom.
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Map

Syrian Army makes big advances against terrorist enclave in Syria, liberates multiple towns near Aleppo - Turkey-Russia talks approach

Joaquin Flores
Fort Russ News
Mon, 17 Feb 2020 18:08 UTC
syrian soldier saa
© Sputnik / Dmitry Vinogradov
Syrian government forces have made significant strides in the province of Aleppo, having regained control of most of the region held by Islamic militants, state media in the Arab Republic reported today, February 17. The troops of Bashar al-Assad over the past day significantly advanced their positions west of Aleppo. This happened in anticipation of the talks scheduled today for Russia-Turkey to de-escalate in northwestern Syria.

On Sunday, Russian aviation inflicted heavy blows on the positions of the militants of the Islamist alliance "Khayyat Tahrir al-Sham" (HTS, the leading role in its composition is played by the terrorist group "Jebhat Fath al-Sham" banned in Russia, the former "Jebhat al-Nusra"), including in the area of ​​the settlement of Anadan, which was then liberated by Syrian forces with the support of pro-Iranian militias, foreign monitoring organizations report. Islamic sources confirm that the militants retreated from the area, including Anadan and the city of Haritan.

"Syrian forces have occupied an area where for eight years they could not take a single village," says the London-based NGO Syrian Observatory of Human Rights. - In this area, Syrian troops are moving very quickly. The militants left most of the area. "

It has been reported that Assad has liberated over the past 24 hours thirteen cities and villages west of Aleppo.

Military experts attribute the successes of the Syrian army to the establishment last week of government control over the M-5 strategic highway (Aleppo-Damascus) along its entire length.

Comment: The Syrian advance in Idlib and Aleppo has been lightning fast. Just in the last day, they managed to liberate the following in Aleppo province: Al-Sheikh Ali, Al-Fogg, Orm al-Kubra, Orm al-Sukhra, Kafr Naha, Kafr Dail, Kafr Hamra, Shantara , Babis, Marat al-Artik, Ovoeyjel, Hretan, Khayyan, Anadan, Yanun, Al-Lermon, as well as a large number of strategic heights.
Two more humanitarian crossings, Miznar and Mizhers, have been opened to ensure the safe exit of civilians from the war zone and to "end the nightmare caused by terrorism to which they have been subjected in recent years," the statement said.

According to some military sources, over the past 24 hours the line of defense of the militants of the Islamist alliance "Khayyat Tahrir al-Sham" (HTS, the leading role in its composition is played by the Jebhat Fath al-Sham terrorist group banned in Russia, the former Jebhat al-Nusra ") And the pro-Turkish" National Liberation Front "(NFO) west of Aleppo is completely collapsed.
To get an idea of the area liberated, here are two maps showing the progress over the last month and a half:

idlib
© adapted from syria.liveuamap.com
See also:

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Boat

EU nations bicker over Libya arms embargo fearing warships would encourage migrants to cross Mediterranean & FLOOD Europe


RT
Mon, 17 Feb 2020 14:48 UTC
Overcrowded raft
© REUTERS/Yannis BehrakisAn overcrowded raft carrying African migrants is seen in front of an Italian Navy vessel in 2017.
Brussels has failed to revive an EU-led naval mission to uphold the arms embargo on Libya, with some dissenting voices in the bloc arguing that the ships' presence would attract migrants setting out from African shores.

EU foreign ministers are unlikely to support the return of Operation Sophia - a maritime mission in the Mediterranean launched in 2015 to enforce the embargo - during a meeting on Monday, Europe's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell acknowledged.

"I don't think today we are going to be able [to reach an agreement]," Borrell said, expressing hope that disagreements could instead be resolved by the next meeting in March.

Multiple countries had "some final reluctance," he explained, without going into details. While Borrell said the situation on the ground in Libya "is very, very bad," humanitarian considerations don't seem to play a big part in the EU's rationale.

Ahead of Monday's talks, Borrell's office distributed a memo urging EU nations to agree on the naval mission. The document warned that if the 27 members fail to reach agreement, "the EU will become irrelevant and others will continue to determine the development of events in Libya."

Comment: See also: UN Security Council adopts resolution affirming lasting ceasefire in Libya, Russia abstains

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Colosseum

Buttigieg thinks flooding small US towns with immigrants is a great idea

John Binder
Breitbart
Tue, 11 Feb 2020 17:39 UTC
Pete Buttigieg
© Brian Cahn/ZUMA Press/NewscomPete Buttigieg
Former Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, is touting a new visa program to flood small American towns with legal immigrants to grow the regions' populations — a boon to corporate investors, housing developers, and big business.

During a campaign stop in Merrimack, New Hampshire, Buttigieg touted his investor-friendly plan to inundate small American towns and rural communities with legal immigration for the sole purpose of driving up population growth.

Comment: What planet is Buttigieg living on? There's plenty of evidence that overwhelming a native population with outsiders belonging to a completely different culture without careful attention to integration, just doesn't go well. Witness Sweden:

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