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US envoy complains about Chinese 'intimidation' in South China Sea


Al Jazeera
Mon, 04 Nov 2019 19:19 UTC
ASEAN leaders
© Gemunu Amarasinghe/APRobert O'Brien met with leaders of the ASEAN countries in Bangkok on Thursday during the group's annual summit
Trump's national security adviser accuses Beijing of blocking ASEAN's access to $2.5 trillion of oil and gas reserve.

A US envoy has denounced Chinese "intimidation" in the South China Sea at a meeting of Southeast Asian leaders, as he conveyed an invitation from President Donald Trump for the leaders to attend a special summit in the United States.

China has made sweeping maritime claims in the resource-rich waters of the South China Sea and angered neighbours by sending ships into the busy waterway, where several members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) also have claims.

"Beijing has used intimidation to try to stop ASEAN nations from exploiting the off-shore resources, blocking access to 2.5 trillion dollars of oil and gas reserve alone," US envoy Robert O'Brien told on Monday the ASEAN-US summit in a speech in Bangkok, Thailand.

Comment:

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Hammer

Iran dares to help Syria rebuild its power grid defying US sanctions on its 'terrorist' construction sector


RT
Sun, 03 Nov 2019 03:46 UTC
Power Plant
© Global Look Press/Helmut Meyer zur Capellen.jpg
Tehran and Damascus have signed a preliminary deal on rebuilding Syria's power grid at a major electricity expo, which by pure coincidence took place in Iran just as Washington sanctioned its construction sector.

The deal envisages not only the restoration of the country's devastated electrical network and construction of additional power generation units - including solar and wind - but also localization of Iranian electrical equipment production in Syria.


Comment: We don't see reports of the US offering to repair the massive damage it caused in Syria, nor financing redevelopment projects to replace what it destroyed. Instead, it persecutes other nations willing to contribute their expertise, supplies and assistance. The United Nations estimates the cost of Syria's reconstruction at $250 billion. Most estimates range from $100B to $350B, with some as high as $1T.

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Whistle

Suddenly, coincidences involving the whistleblower are everywhere

Elizabeth Vaughn
RedState
Sat, 02 Nov 2019 01:00 UTC
Guy w cigar
© Unknown
Eric Ciaramella, the alleged whistleblower, was a young man on a mission. This Ivy-league graduate, said to be fluent in Russian, Ukrainian and Arabic, a favorite among Obama Administration officials, was introduced to us by investigative reporter Paul Sperry on Thursday. Washington insiders, including the mainstream media, have known his identity for quite some time, and for obvious reasons, have remained silent. Even after Sperry outed him this week, we're hearing crickets from those on the left. The conservative media, however, which understands that history is repeating itself, has gone into overdrive to expose the truth.

Here's what we know about Eric Ciaramella (EC):

He submitted a whistleblower complaint on August 12th.

He is a registered Democrat.

He is a CIA analyst who specializes in Russia and Ukraine. He ran the Ukraine desk at the National Security Council (NSC) in 2016.

He was detailed over to the NSC in the summer of 2015 and worked for then-National Security Adviser Susan Rice.

He worked for former Vice President Joe Biden when he served as the Obama administration's "point man" for Ukraine. He may have flown over to Ukraine with Biden on Air Force Two.
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Oil Well

Rebuilding Syria without its oil

Pepe Escobar
Asia Times
Thu, 31 Oct 2019 00:00 UTC
Lavrov/Cavosoglu/Zarif
© UnknownRussian FM Sergey Lavrov • Turkey FM Mevlut Cavosoglu • Iranian FM Javad Zarif
What happened in Geneva this Wednesday, in terms of finally bringing peace to Syria, could not be more significant: the first session of the Syrian Constitutional Committee.

The Syrian Constitutional Committee sprang out of a resolution passed in January 2018 in Sochi, Russia, by a body called the Syrian National Dialogue Congress. The 150-strong committee breaks down as 50 members of the Syrian opposition, 50 representing the government in Damascus and 50 representatives of civil society. Each group named 15 experts for the meetings in Geneva, held behind closed doors.

This development is a direct consequence of the laborious Astana process - articulated by Russia, Iran and Turkey. Essential initial input came from former UN Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura. Now UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen is working as a sort of mediator.

The committee started its deliberations in Geneva in early 2019.

Comment: See also:

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Airplane

Pentagon advisory board offer principles for ethical use of AI in warfare - but so far not that specific

Aaron Gregg
Stars and Stripes
Fri, 01 Nov 2019 00:00 UTC
Predator drone
© Don Bartletti/McClatchy-TribunePredator drone at George Air Base Victorville, CA.
Hoping to prepare for what many see as a coming revolution in artificial intelligence-enabled weaponry ― and convince a skeptical public that it can apply such innovations responsibly ― the U.S. military is taking early steps to define the ethical boundaries for how it will use such systems.

On Thursday, a Pentagon advisory organization called the Defense Innovation Board published a set of ethical principles for how military agencies should design AI-enabled weapons and apply them on the battlefield.

The board's recommendations are in no way legally binding. It now falls to the Pentagon to determine how and whether to proceed with them.
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Beaker

OPCW whistleblower's Syrian gas attack hoax testimony casts doubts about similar incidents


Sputnik
Fri, 01 Nov 2019 21:24 UTC
UN chem weapons experts
© Reuters/Mohamed Abdullah.jpgUN chemical weapons experts
Last month, WikiLeaks published the evidence and testimony provided by an Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) whistleblower who revealed that the watchdog appeared to have willfully ignored data that the Syrian government did not stage a chemical attack in Douma, Syria in April 2018 in order to fit a convenient narrative.

Recently, the Courage Foundation, a respected UK-based civil society organisation dedicated to protecting whistleblowers, convened a panel including Jose Bustani, former director general of the OPCW, WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson and others to study whistleblower testimony which casts major doubt on the watchdog's integrity in its investigation into the alleged April 7, 2018 chemical attack in Douma.

Along with testimony, the whistleblower provided materials including internal emails, text exchanges and suppressed draft reports, leading the panel to conclude that "key information about chemical analyses, toxicology consultations, ballistics studies, and witness testimonies was suppressed, ostensibly to favour a preordained conclusion."

Comment: See also:

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Arrow Down

War on Yemen: Saudi-led coalition shows signs of collapse as Sudanese forces withdraw

Drago Bosnic
FRN
Mon, 04 Nov 2019 00:00 UTC
Sudanese in Yemen
© LobeLogSudanese fighters in Yemen
Withdrawal of 10,000 Sudanese soldiers from Yemen indicates the collapse of the Saudi-US coalition, a prominent analyst said on Sunday.

Omar Ayasrah told the Arabic-language al-Jazeera news website that the Saudi-led coalition was formed under the pretext of returning legitimacy to fugitive Yemeni President Mansour Hadi but facts changed on the ground and now the coalition is attempting to replace Hadi's government with the coup launchers.

He referred to Saudi Arabia's failure in protecting its southern borders against Houthi counter-attacks and said the Yemeni army and popular forces succeeded in sending their drones to the heart of Saudi Arabia, humiliating the country and forcing Riyadh to accept the principle of talks with the Yemenis and finding political solutions.

The spokesman for Yemeni Armed Forces stated on Saturday that more than 4,000 Sudanese militiamen fighting alongside Saudi-led military forces against Ansarullah fighters have been killed and many more injured ever since the Riyadh regime and its allies launched a military aggression against Yemen.
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Light Saber

Republican John Ratcliffe: Schiff is running a corrupt process to overthrow Trump

Sean Davis
The Federalist
Fri, 01 Nov 2019 17:37 UTC
John Ratcliff
© C-SPANRep. John Ratcliffe, R-Tex
A former federal prosecutor who sits on the committee tasked by Democrats with removing President Donald Trump from office blasted Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., as being unfit to oversee the process. Rep. John Ratcliffe, R-Tex., told The Federalist on Friday that Schiff's problem isn't mere partisan political bias, it's that Schiff has a conflict of interest given his secret interactions with the anti-Trump whistleblower before his false complaint against Trump was even submitted.

"It's more than just bias — it's an actual legal conflict of interest," Ratcliffe told The Federalist. "Schiff is using his authority as a Chairman presiding over an impeachment inquiry to prevent the investigation and discovery of facts about his own actions or the actions of his staff."

"He is essentially a witness in the trial over which he is presiding," Ratcliffe continued. "He has a conflict of interest because his testimony is relevant to the origins of the impeachment process that he is simultaneously conducting, directing and managing."

Comment:

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Pirates

More US military personnel and equipment move out of Syria under cover of dusk


Sputnik
Mon, 04 Nov 2019 16:41 UTC
us military fake pullout syria
© Reuters/Azad LashkariA convoy of U.S. vehicles is seen after withdrawing from northern Syria, in Erbil, Iraq October 21, 2019
The US began withdrawing troops and equipment from positions in northern Syria last month, after Turkey kicked off its (since halted) military operation against Syrian Kurdish militias. But President Trump has also indicated that the US will continue to host "some" troops in eastern Syria, with the goal of "keeping" the war-torn country's oil.

The Syrian Arab News Agency has published new footage it says shows a large convoy of US military vehicles being withdrawn from Syria into Iraq.

The video shows an armoured vehicle flying the American flag at the front of a large convoy of civilian transport trucks carrying Humvees and Joint Light Tactical Vehicles (JLTVs), Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Trucks (HEMTTs), oil tankers, containers carrying unidentified supplies, pickup trucks and minivans, what appear to be Oskosh tank haulers, and construction equipment. Multiple bystanders are seen watching or filming the vehicles as they pass.

Comment: Fort Russ News reports the U.S is continuing to dig in around Syria's oil fields:
The United States Army is planning to set up several more military bases in Syria's Qamishli region as it is looking for suitable locations, Kurdish-language media stated.
"We can confirm reports that the US is to establish three small new military bases in Qamishli," Rojoua Information Center affiliated to the Kurdish militia wrote on its Twitter page.
It noted that the US Army is presently looking for an appropriate location to set up its new bases. Qamishli is the capital of al-Hasaka province where about half of Syrian oil wells are located. The US Army's attempts to set up military bases there are aimed at taking control of the region's oil resources.

In a relevant development in late October, Syrian state TV reported that a column of the US troops had returned to northeastern Syria's Hasaka province from Iraq as Washington announced relocating troops to oil regions in the war-torn country.
More than one group is not happy about the U.S. move: Sputnik reports:
A US military convoy in northeastern Syria has come under fire from local Turkey-backed radicals but was not hit, a representative of the Central Command (CENTCOM) of the United States said on Monday.
"On 3 November, a US patrol in northeast Syria witnessed several artillery attacks, shells landed a kilometer or more from the road it was moving on. The patrol was not touched," the CENTCOM spokesman said.
The spokesman added that US forces retain inalienable right to self-defence, saying that the security of the troops is given priority.

Earlier, Major General Yuri Borenkov, head of the Russian Centre for the Reconciliation of Opposing Sides in Syria, said at a briefing that the United States had informed the Russian side of the shelling of the American military by militants from nearby town of Tal Tamer.
Only in a neocon's twisted mind can "self-defense" be used to justify open pillaging of another country's resources.

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NPC

Labour Party MP panned for hinting Tory adviser could be 'Russian Spy'


RT
Sun, 03 Nov 2019 17:14 UTC
Dominic Cummings
© Reuters / Henry NichollsAnti-Brexit protesters hold signs featuring Dominic Cummings in London
The Labour Party has pressed Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab over security clearances granted to adviser Dominic Cummings, citing "serious concerns" over his time spent in Russia. Where have we heard this before?

According to the UK media, citing a letter sent to Raab by Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry, the Labour Party has been approached with "serious concerns by an official-level whistleblower" about the three years Cummings - Prime Minister Boris Johnson's senior adviser - spent in Russia after graduation in 1994.

In the letter, Thornberry asks Raab to comment on Cummings' security clearance, and for more information about the purpose of his visit to post-Soviet Russia and the "relationships" he may have built there, as well as his relationships with the Conservative Friends of Russia group.

The "serious concerns" mentioned in the letter are unknown, and even Thornberry herself wrote "we make no claim to know the veracity of the claims."

Copies of the letter have also been sent to Mark Sedwill, head of the civil service, as well as the heads of MI5 and MI6 and the chair of the intelligence and security committee (ISC), Dominic Grieve, UK media writes.

Comment: The mass political and social hysteria is spreading. It's mindless automatons like David Lammy who are the real danger - not fictitious 'Russian spies'. Throughout human history, the periodic outbreaks of violence, witch hunts, and overall idiocy have been maintained and spread by morons like Lammy, parroting baseless propaganda until emotions reach the breaking level. But the Lammys of the world continue to think they're clever and the paragons of virtue.

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