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Russian Flag

Putin prepares Russia for the future: New government is competent, technically skilled, non-ideological

The Saker
The Unz Review
Wed, 22 Jan 2020 18:32 UTC
new Russian government
Putin's retooled Russian government
The suspense is over and we now know the names of all the members of the new Russian government. You can, for example, take this good summary published by RT.

What is important right now is not only what did happen, but also what did NOT happen. I will begin with two extremely important things which did NOT happen:

First, the Russian government has NOT remained unchanged. The naysayers had predicted that nothing at all would change, that the same folks who be sitting in maybe different seats, but that the changes would be primarily cosmetic. That did not happen. In reality 12 people kept their seats and another 9 were replaced.

Comment: It is comforting to know that at least one world leader is possessed of intelligence and foresight.

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Rocket

'A landmark achievement': Pakistan test-launches new surface-to-surface ballistic missile


RT
Thu, 23 Jan 2020 18:47 UTC
missile launch
Pakistan has once again tested Ghaznavi, a surface-to-surface ballistic missile that can carry a range of warheads, including nuclear ones, with an operating range of 290 km. This is the missile's second successful launch.

The test was a part of field training exercises on both day and night combat readiness. Pakistani state media said the launch was witnessed by top military officials, and that its success demonstrated "a very high standard of proficiency in handling and operating the weapon system". President Arif Alvi and Prime Minister Imran Khan hailed the launch as a "landmark achievement".

The Ghaznavi ballistic missile, also known as Hatf-3, is a Pakistani-made nuclear-capable missile that can be launched from road-based vehicles and can hit targets up to 290 km away. It was previously tested in August 2019 in a night-time launch.

The exercises follow the escalation in tensions between India and Pakistan over Kashmir's autonomy being revoked by New Delhi.

Pakistan claims that India's move is a violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions. India, on the other hand, insists that changes to the Indian Constitution are an internal matter, and that its move will improve stability and end militancy in Kashmir.

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Che Guevara

'I received an invitation to the US. Will I go? No,' Philippine's Duterte tells RT


RT
Thu, 23 Jan 2020 18:26 UTC
duterte
© rt
Filipino president Rodrigo Duterte told RT in an exclusive interview that he has no plans to visit the US for the ASEAN summit, having already snubbed one invitation over a clash of words with Obama.

The Filipino leader told RT's Murad Gazdiev that he's never been to the United State, even though he once received an offer from Obama to come to Washington. He said he turned down the invitation after being criticized by the Democratic president during a press conference.

"He should have realized that I'm also the head of a sovereign state," Duterte explained, arguing that there were diplomatic channels that Obama could have used to make his concerns heard. "He should have brought the case to the United Nations rather than castigate a president of another country in a press conference."

Comment: Here's the full interview, in which Duterte excoriates the United States for its "total lack of respect for our sovereignty" and its representatives "coming to the Philippines like they own the place..."



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Eye 1

Julian Assange extradition case to be drawn out for months


ABC News
Thu, 23 Jan 2020 10:13 UTC
Assange
The complex extradition case designed to determine whether WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will be sent to the U.S. to face espionage charges will take longer than expected.

District Judge Vanessa Baraitser agreed on Thursday to add a three-week session in May in addition to the five-day hearing already set for Feb. 24.

The judge said she was "unlikely to look favorably" on any further requests for delays in the long-awaited confrontation between Assange and U.S. officials.

Assange is being held at Belmarsh Prison in east London while he waits for the hearing. The U.S. has charged him with espionage related to WikiLeaks' hacking of hundreds of thousands of confidential government documents.

Comment: See also: Three protected state witnesses accuse Spanish ex-marine of illegally spying on Julian Assange

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Bad Guys

In its obsession with Russia, Polish government rushes headlong into Holocaust revisionism

Nebojsa Malic
RT
Thu, 23 Jan 2020 18:02 UTC
concentration camp
© Reuters / Axel Schmidt
The Polish-Russian war of words over World War II has taken an ugly turn, with the Polish president refusing to attend a Holocaust memorial in Israel and his PM accusing the Soviet Union of delaying the liberation of Auschwitz.

President Andrzej Duda has refused the invitation to the World Holocaust Forum at Yad Vashem on Thursday, in protest over Russian President Vladimir Putin being invited to speak at the event while he was not. Instead, Duda will preside over the memorial ceremony in Auschwitz on Monday - to which his government deliberately did not invite Putin.

International Holocaust Memorial Day is marked on January 27 because on that date in 1945 the Red Army troops liberated the notorious Nazi death camp at what is now called Oswiecim. Yet the current Polish government has refused to give the Soviet Union any credit for liberating Auschwitz - or Poland, for that matter - insisting instead that their country was a purely innocent victim of Nazis and Soviets in equal measure.
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Eye 1

Backdoored backup? FBI barred Apple from offering customers encrypted iCloud storage

Helen Buyniski
RT
Thu, 23 Jan 2020 17:55 UTC
apple
© Reuters / Stephen Lam
Apple was barred from offering customers encrypted iCloud storage because US intelligence agencies insisted on maintaining open access to users' files, their primary means of evidence-gathering, sources claim.

The FBI quashed a planned feature that would have allowed Apple users to encrypt their iCloud storage, claiming that it would cut the agency off from its best source of evidence against iPhone-using suspects, according to sources who spoke to Reuters on Wednesday. Apple reportedly went along with the agency, hoping to avoid being made an example of in the media or used as the test case for a draconian new anti-encryption law, and the program was put to bed two years ago - yet the crusading surveillance state has returned in the wake of the Pensacola naval air base shooting to demand still greater incursions on user privacy.
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Russian Flag

Russian MPs give first nod to sweeping constitutional changes proposed by Putin


RT
Thu, 23 Jan 2020 17:52 UTC
duma
© RIA Novosti / Maxim Blinov
In a unanimous move in the State Duma, lawmakers backed a bill seeking to overhaul several articles of the constitution, just a week after President Putin proposed major amendments to the law including about his own post.

Proposed by Vladimir Putin in his annual state-of-the-nation address, the changes seek to give more powers to parliament, which will be able to pick the prime minister. The premier's cabinet picks, currently not requiring a nod from MPs, would require parliamentary confirmation and could not be rejected by the president.

They would also limit the president's overall tenure to only two terms; the individual will also be required to have lived 25 consecutive years in Russia, up from the current 10, and to have never obtained foreign citizenship or a residence permit. There will also be stricter background requirements for top officials and MPs.

Comment: Previously: Russian PM Mishustin announces first cabinet: Lavrov and Shoigu remain, but many fresh faces are among appointees

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V

Best of the Web: Defamation suit aims to stop Hillary and her 'powerful elite friends' from silencing patriotic Americans, Gabbard says


RT
Thu, 23 Jan 2020 15:38 UTC
tulsi
© REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
Suing Hillary Clinton for defamation is necessary in order to keep the former first lady and her powerful allies from smearing Americans who seek "peace and freedom" for all, Tulsi Gabbard has argued.

The Democratic presidential hopeful released a scathing statement in defense of her suit against Clinton, noting that the former secretary of state's attempt to smear her as "the favorite of the Russians" would have far-reaching consequences if left unchallenged.

"If Hillary Clinton and her allies can successfully destroy my reputation - even though I'm a war veteran and a sitting member of Congress - then they can do it to anybody," Gabbard wrote.
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MIB

Best of the Web: Pentagon racks up $35 trillion in accounting trickery in a year - a total greater than the entire US economy

Tony Capaccio
MSN
Wed, 22 Jan 2020 12:00 UTC
pentagon
© AFP/Getty ImagesThe Pentagon building in Washington, D.C. The Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense.
The Pentagon made $35 trillion in accounting adjustments last year alone -- a total that's larger than the entire U.S. economy and underscores the Defense Department's continuing difficulty in balancing its books.

The latest estimate is up from $30.7 trillion in 2018 and $29 trillion in 2017, the first year adjustments were tracked in a concerted way, according to Pentagon figures and a lawmaker who's pursued the accounting morass.

The figure dwarfs the $738 billion of defense-related funding in the latest U.S. budget, a spending plan that includes the most expensive weapons systems in the world including the F-35 jet as well as new aircraft carriers, destroyers and submarines.

Comment: One wonders just where this unfathomable sum of money is going? Because everything that we see the Pentagon produce reflects a department that's rotten to its core: Also check out SOTT radio's: The Truth Perspective: Interview with Dilyana Gaytandzhieva: Pentagon Biological Warfare And Arms Trafficking to Terrorists

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Broom

Iraqi parliament gives US forces one year to leave, Trump threatens sanctions unless they compensate them for "expensive" bases

Drago Bosnic
Fort Russ
Wed, 22 Jan 2020 12:00 UTC
US soldier Iraq
A senior Iraqi legislator said in a statement that the Iraqi parliament's approval has kicked off an irreversible process that will see a complete pullout of United States occupation forces from the Arab country by the end of this year (2020).

"We will witness the end of the US forces' presence in Iraq in the current year," Ali al-Qanemi, a senior member of the Iraqi parliament's security and defense committee, told the Arabic-language Baghdad al-Youm news website on Tuesday.

He added that the parliament's decision to expel the US forces is binding on the government, adding that Baghdad is adopting the necessary measures to this end. Al-Qanem said after the parliament's decision and given the conditions in Iraq, the US forces have no reason to continue their presence in the Arab country.

Comment: In addition to Trump's ridiculous claims that Iraq owes them, the Pentagon claims that since its army there is a 'force for good' they have NO plans to leave...

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