Puppet MastersS


Bulb

Germany partially withdraws troops from Iraq


DW
Tue, 07 Jan 2020 20:54 UTC
NATO troops
© Alice Martins
Growing security concerns in the Gulf region has prompted Germany to "thin out" the number of soldiers in Iraq. Its military presence will be reduced particularly in Baghdad and Taji.

Germany has reduced the number of its troops stationed in Iraq due to growing regional security concerns, the Bundeswehr confirmed via a press release on Monday.

Overnight, 35 German soldiers were brought to either Kuwait or Jordan, the military said.

"These forces can be brought back at any time if training in Iraq is to resume."
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Jet2

US deploys 6 B-52 bombers to Diego Garcia in Indian Ocean after Soleimani assassination

Vandana Rambaran
Fox News
Mon, 06 Jan 2020 20:48 UTC
B-52G bomber
© ReutersA United States Air Force B-52G/H Stratofortress bomber.
The U.S. Air Force is deploying six B-52 bombers to Diego Garcia, an island base in the Indian Ocean, amid the rising threat from Iran after the U.S.-led airstrike killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, Fox News confirmed Monday.

The move, which CNN first reported, was the latest in efforts by U.S. military officials to bolster resources near the Middle East after the Iraqi Shia militia Kataib Hezbollah hinted at possible retaliatory attacks to avenge Soleimani's death.

The B-52 bombers reportedly were spotted departing from Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana to Diego Garcia, which is located 2,300 miles south of Iran's southernmost tip.
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Light Sabers

China won't hike grain import quotas for U.S. trade deal: Caixin

Dominique Patton and Hallie Gu
Reuters
Tue, 07 Jan 2020 20:40 UTC
corn
China will not increase its annual low-tariff import quotas for corn, wheat and rice to accommodate stepped-up purchases of farm goods from the United States, senior agriculture official Han Jun said on Tuesday, according to local media group Caixin.

The move could make it harder for Beijing to meet import commitments in a Phase 1 trade deal due to be signed next week. U.S. President Donald Trump said last month the agreement would likely double China's $24 billion in pre-trade war purchases to $40-$50 billion annually.

China has not confirmed the amount.
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Chess

Best of the Web: Putin makes surprise Orthodox Christmas visit to Syria, discusses security situation with Assad


RT
Tue, 07 Jan 2020 20:34 UTC

Comment: We were wondering, since Trump blew Soleimani to kingdom come, what Putin's next move would be. The contrast couldn't be any greater...


Assad Putin
© Instagram / syrianpresidency
Russian President Vladimir Putin has made a surprise visit to Syria, holding talks with his counterpart, Bashar Assad, at the Russian military command center.

Putin "rode through the streets of Damascus" on his way to the command center, where he headed after landing at the city's airport, Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said.

The Russian president met with Assad there as the two leaders listened to reports by military officials on the conditions on the ground in various regions of the country. Russia has been assisting Syria in the fight against terrorists since 2014.

Comment: And it's Russia's Christmas, incidentally, so this visit is apparently the Russian version of making a 'surprise visit to inspect the troops'. Except that, in this case, his visit is actually welcomed by the host country...

RT reports:
Russian President Vladimir Putin spent his Christmas day in Damascus, a city that is closely tied to early Christianity, home to Syria's oldest Orthodox Church and a mosque that keeps the relics of John the Baptist.

Putin's plane touched down in Syria on Tuesday, to everyone's surprise, as the president was last spotted in St. Petersburg the evening before, attending the Orthodox Christmas Eve service.

His unannounced trip included not only talks about fighting terrorism with Syrian President Bashar Assad, but also visits to the city's historic religious sites. After the talks, Putin and Assad took a walk through the center of Damascus, stopping at the Umayyad Mosque, also known as the Great Mosque.


One of the largest and oldest mosques in the world, it hosts the head of John the Baptist, who is also venerated in Islam as Prophet Yahya. The relic was shown to the Russian leader, who responded in the manner of a good guest, presenting the mosque with a 17th-century copy of the Koran.

The two leaders than headed to the oldest Orthodox church in Syria, the Mariamite Cathedral, built during the second century. It's the seat of John X, the Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, who greeted the high-ranked guests.

The Patriarch thanked Putin for sending the Russian military to assist Syria in the fight against the terrorists. Without this help, the church could've now been the headquarters of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi or some militant warlord, he said.

John X also described Syria as a tolerant place "where different religions - both Christians and Muslims - coexist peacefully and enjoy the same rights." The Russian president had a gift for him as well, an icon of the Virgin Mary painted in Russia.


After a brief busy stay in Damascus, Putin flew to neighboring Turkey, where he is scheduled to hold security and trade talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and attend the ceremonial opening of the 'Turk Stream' gas pipeline.
So many winning deals to make - and so many USraeli-started fires to put out - so little time...

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Bad Guys

Exposing empire: How Soleimani's killing put paid to myths the US told itself and others

Nebojsa Malic
RT
Mon, 06 Jan 2020 19:41 UTC
US flag presidential seal
© REUTERS/Joshua Roberts
For decades, the US establishment has talked about an international community, rules-based order, the importance of NATO allies, democracy and sovereignty. Then President Donald Trump had an Iranian general assassinated.

"Snow doesn't fall to cover the hills, but to reveal the tracks of every beast," goes an old Serbian saying. The proverbial snow in this case is last week's killing of General Qassem Soleimani, head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, which exploded not just the convoy he was riding in, but decades of accumulated platitudes about the US, its allies, and the world.
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No Entry

Trump Administration blocks Iran's top diplomat from addressing UN Security Council

Colum Lynch, Robbie Gramer
Foreign Policy
Mon, 06 Jan 2020 20:14 UTC
zarif un
© FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGESIranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif attends a meeting at the United Nations Offices in Geneva on Oct. 29, 2019.
The Trump administration is barring Iran's top diplomat from entering the United States this week to address the United Nations Security Council about the U.S. assassination of Iran's top military official in Baghdad, violating the terms of a 1947 headquarters agreement requiring Washington to permit foreign officials into the country to conduct U.N. business, according to three diplomatic sources.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif requested a visa a "few weeks ago" to enter the United States to attend a Jan. 9 Security Council meeting on the importance of upholding the U.N. Charter, according to a diplomatic source familiar with the matter. The Thursday meeting was to provide Tehran's top diplomat with his first opportunity to directly address the world community since U.S. President Donald Trump ordered the Jan. 3 drone strike that killed Maj. Gen. Qassem Suleimani, a top Iraqi militia leader, among others.

The Iranian government was awaiting word on the visa Monday when a Trump administration official phoned U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres to inform him that the United States would not allow Zarif into the country, according to the Washington-based diplomatic source.


Comment: News like this is only frustrating if you're under the illusion that the U.S. government is anything other than a mafia. Once you realize that, then the arrogance, brazen defiance of international law, bully tactics, and general unsavouriness are just par for the course. It's like expecting a rabid dog to have table manners.


The move comes as the United States and Iran engaged in tit-for-tat recriminations over the killing of Suleimani. Trump tweeted over the weekend that if Iran retaliates for Suleimani's death, it will face U.S. attacks on 52 targets — the number of hostages held by Iran in 1979. "Let this serve as a WARNING that if Iran strikes any Americans, or American assets, we have ... targeted 52 Iranian sites (representing the 52 American hostages taken by Iran many years ago), some at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture, and those targets, and Iran itself, WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD," he said. "The USA wants no more threats!"

Comment:



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Attention

In an act of cowardice, Soleimani assassination puts US-Israeli fear of Iran on full display

Miko Peled
MintPress News
Mon, 06 Jan 2020 00:00 UTC
Trump
© Evan Vucci/APPresident Donald Trump walks off after delivering remarks on Iran, at his Mar-a-Lago property, Friday, Jan. 3, 2020, in Palm Beach, Fla.
In what can only be described as one in a long series of reckless, thoughtless and short-sighted acts that serve only the narrowest interests, the Trump administration assassinated Iranian General Qasem Soleimani. This assassination, which was an act of cowardice, one may safely assume was concocted by Benjamin Netanyahu, another corrupt, reckless coward who is fighting for his political life. This, like the rest of the Trump administration's Mideast and Iran policy, had to have been prescribed by the Prime Minister of Israel.

Both Israel and the United States are terrified of an all-out war with Iran. Neither country has faced a well-organized, well-armed, well-trained and motivated military force in many decades. There can be no doubt that the military leaders of both countries know this and appreciate that a war with Iran will be tantamount to suicide.

While both the US and the Israeli armies are well equipped and the hardware at their disposal includes vast quantities of the most cutting edge weapons on earth, both are large and cumbersome, and while they can bomb and destroy almost any country from the air and sea, neither has fought a long ground war and neither is capable of sustaining such a war. In addition, neither the Israeli soldiers or US forces can possibly be expected to be as motivated as the Iranian military would be in the event of an attack.
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Star of David

Former Obama aide: Killing Soleimani was in Israel's interest, 'not in the American interest'

Philip Weiss
Mondoweiss
Tue, 07 Jan 2020 19:49 UTC
Trump, bibi netanyahu
© AP / Evan VucciNetanyahu and Trump meet at the Lotte New York Palace Hotel on Madison Avenue.
The media consensus is that Trump ordered the killing of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani because the U.S. president was angered by the attack on the U.S. embassy in Baghdad last week and because he felt a need to intimidate Iran. CNN and MSNBC are also offering the view that Trump is seeking to pump his popularity in the face of impeachment, or starting a war so he will be reelected.

Israel's interest in the assassination continues to be my focus. Israel appears to have been a factor in Trump's decision, beginning with the fact that his largest donor has called for a strike on Iran. As former White House negotiator Aaron David Miller tweeted:
If the Israelis weren't somehow involved in this, I'd be stunned. Sulrimani's been on their list for a long time
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Nuke

Financial N-option? Trump's oil war of 'divide and rule' may be over

Pepe Escobar
Asia Times
Mon, 06 Jan 2020 00:00 UTC
IranianLeaders
© AFPIranian leaders attended the funeral of Qasem Soleimani: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani (L), Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (Center), and Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani (R) pay their respects at Soleimani’s coffin.
On foreign soil, as a guest nation, US has assassinated a diplomatic envoy whose mission the US had requested. The bombshell facts were delivered by caretaker Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi, during an extraordinary, historic parliamentary session in Baghdad on Sunday.

Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani had flown into Baghdad on a normal carrier flight, carrying a diplomatic passport. He had been sent by Tehran to deliver, in person, a reply to a message from Riyadh on de-escalation across the Middle East. Those negotiations had been requested by the Trump administration.

So Baghdad was officially mediating between Tehran and Riyadh, at the behest of Trump. And Soleimani was a messenger. Adil Abdul-Mahdi was supposed to meet Soleimani at 8:30 am, Baghdad time, last Friday. But a few hours before the appointed time, Soleimani died as the object of a targeted assassination at Baghdad airport.

Let that sink in - for the annals of 21st century diplomacy. Once again: it does not matter whether the assassination order was issued by President Trump, the US Deep State or the usual suspects - or when. After all, the Pentagon had Soleimani on its sights for a long time, but always refused to go for the final hit, fearing devastating consequences.

Now, the fact is that the United States government - on foreign soil, as a guest nation - has assassinated a diplomatic envoy who was on an official mission that had been requested by the United States government itself.

Baghdad will formally denounce this behavior to the United Nations. However, it would be idle to expect UN outrage about the US killing of a diplomatic envoy. International law was dead even before 2003's Shock and Awe.

Comment: As Escobar points out: Grim and effective payback from Iran is only a matter of choice and timing. If there are no attempts at reconciliation, what comes next may be devastating. Tighten your financial seat belts. This could be a very bumpy ride.

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Target

Flashback Iran's military mastermind leads battle to recapture Tikrit from ISIS

Jack Moore
Newsweek
Thu, 05 Mar 2020 10:26 UTC
GroupSoleimani
© TWITTERMajor General Qasem Soleimani, the former leader of the special operations arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, pictured in a white scarf with Kurdish forces in Iraq last year.
A notorious Iranian commander is spearheading the Iraqi offensive on the ISIS-held city of Tikrit, providing tactical expertise and a key link to Tehran for supplies to the Iraqi militias advancing on the terror group's territory.

This week, a combination of 30,000 Iraqi security forces, Sunni and Shia militiamen launched a campaign to retake the Sunni-majority city, the hometown of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, from the terror group after it swept through northern Iraq last summer. Iraqi security forces, backed by the majority-Shia Popular Mobilisation Units (PMU), are advancing on the city from three directions, north, east and south, where the main entry points into and out of the city lie.

Major General Qasem Soleimani, the shadowy former leader of the elite Quds Force, the special operations arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IGRC), is directly overseeing the eastern offensive on Tikrit. The Iranian general has been pictured on the outskirts of the city in photos shared widely on social media.
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