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Vader

Best of the Web: Iran has apologized, but it's clear Trump & other US presidents will never say sorry for what they've done to Middle East

Finian Cunningham
RT
Sun, 12 Jan 2020 18:57 UTC
Iran shrine Ukraine plane crash
© YouTube, RuptlyIranians mourn plane crash victims with vigil
Commendably, Iran has apologized for shooting down the passenger jet and killing all 176 people on board. It shows integrity to take responsibility for the disastrous loss of life at a time of intense adversity.

Now will other parties also show similar humility in admitting their role for creating precarious conditions where death seems an inevitable outcome? Specifically, can US President Donald Trump recognize that his administration's policy of hellbent hostility towards Iran is driving up conflict and, ultimately, the loss of innocent lives?

The shoot-down of Flight 752 was a heartrending tragedy for countless families of several nationalities. Most of the dead were Iranians, which must add to the pain felt by that nation. But at least by owning up to the truth, the Iranian authorities have spared grieving victims from prolonged anguish of not knowing what happened.

Comment:

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Airplane

Best of the Web: "We accept full responsibility'' - Watch IRGC press conference confessing accidental downing of Ukrainian plane


IFP News
Sat, 11 Jan 2020 17:51 UTC
Ukrainian plane crash tehran
Commander of the Aerospace Force of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Amir-Ali Hajizadeh has, in a press conference, outlined the details of the "unintentional" downing of a Ukrainian passenger plane, which crashed in Tehran Wednesday.

In his comments on Saturday, Brigadier General Hajizadeh said the IRGC Aerospace Force accepts full responsibility for the tragic incident, and is ready to obey any decision made by the country's top officials.

"I heard about the heart-breaking crash of the Ukrainian Airline's passenger plane when I was in the country's west following the missile attacks operation against the US bases. When I became sure that was indeed what had happened, I really wished I had died and not lived to see it," he said.

Video of Commander Hajizadeh's press statement:


Comment: That's the end of the matter as far as international diplomacy is concerned.

But it remains to be seen how an air-defense system operator mistook a Boeing 737 for a cruise missile.

Unless it was fiddled with in some way, the Ukrainian Airlines jet's transponder should have told the operator of the TOR-1M system that the object he was seeing on his radar screen is a Boeing 737.

Additionally, the plane's appearance on his screen should have in no way surprised him - it was the TENTH flight out of Tehran's Khomeini Airport that night. Prior to Flight 752, the last flight movement there was the departure - from the same runway and in the same direction - of QR8408 at 05:39 local time.

Why then was the air-defense operator surprised by this flight?

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Airplane

Best of the Web: The accidental downing of Ukrainian plane by Iran is already being used to smear MH-17 skeptics

Max Parry
The Unz Review
Sat, 11 Jan 2020 00:00 UTC
MP blast airliner
© Unknown
When the Pentagon confirmed the assassination of Iranian Major General Qasem Soleimani, U.S. President Donald Trump took to social media to post a single image of the American flag to the adulation of his followers. Unfortunately, most Americans are ignorant of the other flag synonymous with U.S. foreign policy, that of the 'false flag' utilized to deceive the public and stir up support for endless war abroad. While the chicken hawk defenders of Trump's reckless decision to murder one of the biggest contributors in the defeat of ISIS salivated over possible war with Iran, their appetite was spoiled by Tehran's retaliatory precision strikes of two U.S. bases in Iraq that deliberately avoided casualties while in accordance with the Islamic Republic's right to self defense under Article 51 of the United Nations charter. The reprisal successfully deescalated the crisis but sent a clear message Iran was willing to stand up to the U.S. with the backing of Russia and China, while Washington underestimated Tehran which forewarned the Iraqi government of its impending counterattack so U.S. personnel could evacuate.

Comment:



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Red Flag

Best of the Web: This Decade Belonged to China. So Will The Next One

Martin Jacques
The Guardian
Thu, 31 Dec 2020 17:35 UTC
The west is still finding it extraordinarily difficult to come to terms with China's remarkable ascent
xi jinping
Now all your govts is belong to us
By 2010, China was beginning to have an impact on the global consciousness in a new way. Prior to the western financial crisis, it had been seen as the new but very junior kid on the block. The financial crash changed all that. Before 2008 the conventional western wisdom had been that sooner or later China would suffer a big economic meltdown. It never did. Instead, the crisis happened in the west, with huge consequences for the latter's stability and self-confidence.

Every year for the past decade, China, not the US, has been the main source of global economic growth. In 2014, according to the World Bank's international comparison program, the Chinese economy overtook that of the US to become the world's largest, measured by purchasing power parity. Although China's growth rate over the past decade has declined to its present 6.2%, it is still one of the world's fastest-growing economies. Today its economy is more than twice as big as it was in 2010.
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Brain

Best of the Web: The medications that change who we are

Zaria Gorvett
BBC
Wed, 08 Jan 2020 00:01 UTC
brain x-ray
"Patient Five" was in his late 50s when a trip to the doctors changed his life.

He had diabetes, and he had signed up for a study to see if taking a "statin" - a kind of cholesterol-lowering drug - might help. So far, so normal.

But soon after he began the treatment, his wife began to notice a sinister transformation. A previously reasonable man, he became explosively angry and - out of nowhere - developed a tendency for road rage. During one memorable episode, he warned his family to keep away, lest he put them in hospital.

Comment: See also:

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Yellow Vest

Best of the Web: Police crack down as striking workers and Yellow Vest protesters converge on streets across France


RT
Sat, 11 Jan 2020 17:18 UTC

Comment: For 61 consecutive weeks the Yellow Vest protests have been going on... And they today converged with the 40 straight days of mass strikes by public workers. The French surely hold world records for protesting!


paris strike
© AFP / Lionel BonaventureProtesters run away from tear gas during a demonstration in Paris on January 11, 2020.
Rallies against France's pension reform and anti-government Yellow Vest protests have escalated into clashes with police in Paris and other cities. Police responded with tear gas as some protesters threw stones and started fires.

The nationwide strike against pension reforms has entered its 38th day in France, coinciding with 'Act 61' of demonstrations by the Yellow Vests, the movement that has been protesting state austerity measures each weekend for over a year now.

Tensions this Saturday appear to be particularly high, as clashes between the protesters and law enforcement erupted in multiple locations across the country.

Comment: One would expect these ostensibly separate movements, considering their shared concerns, to ultimately merge into one massive movement against Macron and his government' s destructive anti-national and anti-social policies: 450,000 join France's ongoing strike action including nurses, teachers and lawyers

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Caesar

Best of the Web: Putin gets Merkel to agree with his and Erdogan's proposal for ending Libya civil war - Peace talks to be held in Berlin


RT
Sat, 11 Jan 2020 19:52 UTC
Putin Merkel
© RT/YoutubeRussian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel
Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at a joint press conference about ending the ongoing conflicts in Libya, saying peace talks are already happening and will continue.

Libya peace talks are planned in Berlin, Putin and Merkel announced, following calls for a ceasefire in the country.

"We hope that the joint efforts by Russia and Turkey will lead to success, and we will soon send out invitations for a conference in Berlin," Merkel added.

Putin and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan again called for a ceasefire between all warring parties in Libya, at the conference in Istanbul earlier this week. The Russian leader also discussed the peace process in the country with Mohammed Bin Zayed, deputy supreme commander of the United Arab Emirates' armed forces, and Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.


Comment: Less than 5 hours later...
The Libyan National Army led by General Khalifa Haftar has declared a ceasefire after Russian and Turkish presidents suggested as a way to de-escalate the hostilities with the government in Tripoli.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel's also called for ending hostilities between the two warring sides in the troubled North Africa country earlier on Sunday and promised conducting peace conference in Berlin.
THIS is how a responsible and civilized 'light unto the nations' is supposed to conduct its own, and thus world, affairs.

Not only that, but it's not merely going to be an empty round of peace talks because for years prior to this Putin earned the respect and trust of BOTH sides of the conflict in Libya, who recognize Russia as an honest broker.

The two leaders also agreed to continue supporting the JCPOA, so 'the Iran Deal' is NOT dead yet. Putin also mentioned the special-purpose financial vehicle, INSTEX Europe - which was created to facilitate trade with Iran in circumvention of US sanctions - would soon "be up and running" and that European nations "would deliver on their promise to create an independent mechanism free of the dollar influence."

Here's a longer video of Putin and Merkel's statements following their meeting in Moscow:


See also:

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Vader

Best of the Web: The deeper story behind Soleimani's assassination: Thwarting Chinese reconstruction of Iraq

Federico Pieraccini
Strategic Culture Foundation
Thu, 09 Jan 2020 17:04 UTC
soleimani funeral baghdad
© Abein Taherkenareh/EPA-EFE/REX)Iranians attend the funeral ceremony of Qassem Soleimani
Days after the assassination of General Qasem Soleimani, new and important information is coming to light from a speech given by the Iraqi prime minister. The story behind Soleimani's assassination seems to go much deeper than what has thus far been reported, involving Saudi Arabia and China as well the U.S. dollar's role as the global reserve currency.

The Iraqi prime minister, Adil Abdul-Mahdi, has revealed details of his interactions with Trump in the weeks leading up to Soleimani's assassination in a speech to the Iraqi parliament. He tried to explain several times on live television how Washington had been browbeating him and other Iraqi members of parliament to toe the American line, even threatening to engage in false-flag sniper shootings of both protesters and security personnel in order to inflame the situation, recalling similar modi operandi seen in Cairo in 2009, Libya in 2011, and Maidan in 2014. The purpose of such cynicism was to throw Iraq into chaos.

Comment: That is really dynamite stuff from the Iraqi PM. Trump apparently threatened to assassinate him... to his face. As for siccing snipers on rent-a-crowds, now we have clear proof - from the horse's mouth - that this is what the US does to other countries.

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Pirates

Best of the Web: ISIS praises US murder of Soleimani as 'divine intervention' that will help them rise again


RT
Sat, 11 Jan 2020 17:23 UTC
ISIS
© Flickr / Day Donaldson
Islamic State terrorists rejoiced at the death of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani at the hands of his American 'allies,' according to a weekly newspaper affiliated with the group that once controlled much of Syria and Iraq.

Soleimani was killed by a US drone strike on January 3, as he was being driven, with others, near Baghdad international airport. In reprisal, Iran launched a limited strike on US bases in Iraq with ballistic missiles on Tuesday, causing no casualties but demonstrating a capability to hit US assets at will.

The weekly Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) newspaper Al-Naba portrayed Soleimani's death as an act of god in support of its cause, and Muslims in general, according to BBC Monitoring.


Comment: Yep, you read that right. ISIS's god is acting through the American military, apparently.



An editorial in the jihadi paper was careful not to credit the US or even mention Soleimani by name. It couched the gloating in a historical analogy, referring to "Roman-Persian wars" that enabled early Muslims to overrun both Persia - today's Iran - and parts of the Eastern Roman Empire, also known as Byzantium.

Comment: It's not just ISIS. Shaikh Muhaysni, tied to al-Qaeda in Syria, is also ecstatic that Soleimani is dead. You'd think more people would find it a bit curious that ISIS, al-Qaeda, the U.S. and Israel all share the same outlook.

You'd almost think they're working together on some level.

But no, that's just crazy talk... right?



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Star of David

Best of the Web: Israelis like me don't want to be America's pawns in the Middle East any longer

Etan Nechin
The Independent
Sat, 11 Jan 2020 04:36 UTC
israel jerusalem flag
I spent my childhood and my young adulthood in bomb shelters every time America had a spat with one of our neighbors. But the truth is we have so much more in common with Arab countries than with WASPs in New Hampshire

When I was nine years old, my family and I, all wearing gas masks, would huddle in our bomb shelter, which doubles as my parents' closet. It was the Gulf War, and Saddam Hussein was lobbing Scud missiles at Israel in retaliation to the US and its allies invading Iraq.

In 2003, in the ramp-up to the second Iraq war, tensions were high again: I took my gas mask to the bar in which I worked. People sat with their brown boxes to their sides, sipping beer and waiting to hear whether the air siren would sound.

It's been this way ever since I can remember. Besides the direct daily conflict with Palestinians and tensions with our neighbors, every time the White House gave out a "special statement" about the region, we Israelis began to brace ourselves for the unknown.

Comment: We know it's a tall order for most Israelis, but the alternative is allowing their leaders to lead their country to its utter destruction. Israel must either become a normal country in the region, or it's doomed. It has lived off the largesse of American taxpayers and stolen tech for far too long. It's time for the U.S. to cut the cord and let Israel work out its future for good or ill, on its own.

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