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Jet5

Barmy Army! British Opposition Foreign Secretary sez: 'Britain can only be taken seriously by US' if it increases NATO spending


RT
Tue, 01 Nov 2016 14:41 UTC
Lord David Owen
© GettyLabour Foreign Secretary Lord David Owen
America will only treat Britain as a serious global player if the UK raises the share of its GDP contributed to NATO each year, according to former Labour Foreign Secretary Lord David Owen. Owen told an audience at the Swiss-based Progress Foundation that increasing the symbolic contribution of gross domestic product (GDP) to NATO from 2 percent to 2.5 percent per year would show the US it is a serious player. It would also help convince Europe, still smarting from the Brexit vote, that Britain is serious about security.


Comment: Wait a minute; why would Britain need to convince America in order to convince Europe that it is serious about its security? Isn't British security a British domestic concern?


"Over the next four years, besides adding the present UK EEAS budget to our contribution to NATO, we will need to move as quickly as we can to devoting 2.5 percent of GDP to NATO to be seen as serious," Owen said in his address. He warned that "only in a revived NATO, where European countries are no longer as President [Barack] Obama rightly accused us of being 'freeloaders,' and we make a greater financial contribution, will Europe redress the imbalance between us and President Putin's Russian Federation."


Comment: Is Lord Owen British or is he American? Which country does he work for? Why is he repeating Pentagon propaganda about Russia?


On the relationship with Europe, Owen argued: "When the EU recognizes that the UK is even more committed to European stability as well as security then Brexit will be seen in a different light as strengthening the wider Europe." Before committing to an extra 0.5 percent, the British government may want to check [that] it is actually meeting its stated obligations.


Comment: Hang on a second: is Britain in the EU or is it not? If it's not, then why is it still talking about putting its military in Europe? Last time we checked, British borders end at the Cliffs of Dover, not eastern Poland.



Comment: This is demented beyond words. How did Jeremy Corbyn end up with this colonial era fool? He's no less crazy than Boris Johnson!

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Stormtrooper

Russia: Duma passes draft for short-term military contracts


RT
Wed, 02 Nov 2016 10:07 UTC
Russian military signups
© Mikhail Voskresenskiy / Sputnik
The State Duma Committee for Defense has approved a draft law allowing citizens to sign short-term military contracts and participate in counter-terrorist operations in Russia and abroad, as well as other missions required by extraordinary circumstances.

The bill is applicable to people on active military service and reserve servicemen. The maximum term of contracts is set at one year. The text of the draft reads that the soldiers summoned on short-term contracts could be used for "maintaining or restoring peace and security outside Russia's borders."

The current Russian Law on Military Service allows for military contracts, but their length is set as between two and five years. In drafting the new bill, the government explained that shorter contracts would help quickly mobilize forces for particular tasks, which is important in the rapidly-changing world. Additionally, according to Defense Ministry estimates, many more professional soldiers express a willingness to prolong their contracts if the original ones are signed for shorter terms.

The deputy head of the upper house's Committee for Defense, Senator Franz Klintsevich, said that after the new bill is passed Russia will get new tools for operative reaction to new threats. "Today it is simply impossible to make precise forecasts for a year or two. As the events in Syria have demonstrated to us, everything can change literally every day. Therefore, no one can know when a necessity for counter-terrorist operations may arise or how long they would last," he said.

Comment: The question is always how to best use the military to handle the complexity of today's conflicts, shifting what doesn't work into progressive means that address rapid twists, turns and changes. The 'battle' has evolved. It is no longer last century's warfare.

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Target

US media re-declares Venezuela a dictatorship to incite a coup

Joe Emersberger
teleSUR
Fri, 28 Oct 2016 00:00 UTC
Venezuelan officer
© ReutersInjured Venezuelan National Guard walks away during a rally demanding a referendum to remove President Maduro.
The U.S. media has widely declared Venezuela a "dictatorship" in recent days — actually re-declared it as such for the umpteenth time.

The vilification of Venezuela's government has never been subtle over the past two decades. Venezuela's former President Hugo Chavez, who died in 2013, was called a "dead communist dictator" by Bernie Sanders' campaign in response to attacks by a Clinton super PAC. The Democratic National Committee just released a pro-Clinton commercial that depicted Chavez as a dictator. In reality, the only dictatorship to exist in Venezuela over the past 18 years was led by Pedro Carmona after a military coup deposed Chavez for two days in 2002.

That dictatorship had the backing of the U.S. government and major U.S. media like the New York Times. Key leaders of the opposition participated in the 2002 coup: Leopoldo Lopez, Henrique Capriles, Maria Corina Machado to name some of U.S. media's favorites. In August, Henry Ramos, the president of the opposition-led National Assembly, publicly lamented the defeat of the 2002 coup.

On October 26, the New York Times, NYT, essentially reprised its infamous editorial of April 13, 2002, in which it said that Carmona was a "respected business leader" who ensured that "Venezuelan democracy is no longer threatened by a would-be dictator." The NYT's 2016 version of the editorial said that Venezuela is now a "dictatorship in the making" and that "If there is more bloodshed, Mr. Maduro (the current Venezuelan president) will be responsible." The message to the Venezuelan opposition could not be clearer: no matter how violently you or your supporters behave, we will ignore it as we always have in the past.



Comment: The media is a US' bully pulpit, able to foment situations into scenarios aimed at public validation for international interference. Both Chavez and Maduro became targets of dishonest and hostile reporting by Western media outlets which skewed statistics and interpretations to favor a particular impression, position, strategy or outcome.

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Red Flag

Suspected masterminds of failed Turkish coup visited US to meet Gulen


Sputnik
Wed, 02 Nov 2016 21:02 UTC
Fethullah Gulen
© AP Photo/ Chris Post
Adil Oksuz and Kemal Batmaz, who are suspected of plotting the coup attempt in Turkey, visited the United States on July 11-13, according to local media.

Suspected masterminds behind a July coup attempt in Turkey visited the United States shortly before the thwarted coup to meet dissident Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen, who is accused by Ankara of orchestrating the mutiny, Turkish media reported Wednesday.

Adil Oksuz and Kemal Batmaz, who are suspected of plotting the July mutiny, visited the United States on July 11-13, according to the Turkish Daily Sabah newspaper.

On July 15, a military coup attempt took place in Turkey. It was suppressed the following day. Over 240 people were killed during the coup attempt and an estimated 2,000 were wounded.

Ankara has accused Gulen, who has been living in the US state of Pennsylvania since 1999, and his followers of playing a key role in the coup. Gulen himself has denounced the rebellion and declared his innocence.

Comment: See also: Profiling Fethullah Gulen, the deep state plotter (VIDEO)

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Network

Turkish FM Cavusoglu ready to apologize to Russian pilot's widow, thanks Russia for intel support during coup


Sputnik
Wed, 02 Nov 2016 19:53 UTC
cavusoglu
© Sputnik/ Fuad Safarov
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu says he is ready to personally apologize to widow of the Russian pilot of the downed by Turkish forces Russian Su-24 jet.

"We would like to provide financial support to the family of the deceased pilot. I conveyed to [Foreign Minister Sergey] Lavrov that I was ready to pay a visit to the widow of the deceased Russian pilot, if she agrees to that, to offer my apologies and condolences," Cavusoglu told Rossiya-24 TV channel.

Earlier, the family of Russian military pilot Oleg Peshkov, who was killed after Turkey downed a Russian Su-24 aircraft in November 2015, will not accept any compensation from the Turkish government, a brother of the deceased pilot, Pavel Peshkov, said.

Comment: He also acknowledged the support Russia gave during the coup attempt:
"First of all, I want to express my gratitude to Russia and [President Vladimir] Putin and the Russian people. Russia has convincingly demonstrated who our true friend is in the difficult days," Cavusoglu told Rossiya-24.

"Mr. Putin gave us full support and assistance, including with regard to intelligence sharing. That is why we are grateful to the Russian leadership and the people. The Turkish people will never forget this," he reiterated.


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Star of David

British citizen who confessed to Hamas links 'under duress' freed by Israeli court


RT
Wed, 02 Nov 2016 20:22 UTC
Israeli soldiers
© Amir Cohen / ReutersSoldiers walk past the ongoing construction site of Israel's barrier with the West Bank as seen from Havat Ela in southern Israel
A British citizen was freed by an Israeli military court after a judge ruled that his confession had been extracted under physical and psychological duress, and without access to a lawyer.

However, Faiz Mahmoud Ahmed Sherari, 49, remains in custody pending an appeal by a military prosecutor.

The presiding judge said Sherari, who was accused of acting as a courier for Hamas, had been subject to "prolonged painful shackling [and] threats," according to the Guardian.
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Snakes in Suits

Not even wrong: Saudi ambassador dodges cluster bomb question - "like asking if you'll stop beating your wife"

Zaid Jilani and Alex Emmons
The Intercept
Tue, 01 Nov 2016 19:26 UTC
al-saud ambassador saudi
© Zaid Jilani / YouTube
"Will you continue to use cluster weapons in Yemen?" we asked Prince Abdullah Al-Saud, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States.

"This is like the question, 'Will you stop beating your wife?'" Al-Saud responded, letting loose a bellowing laugh.


Comment: Kinda only works when you're not beating your wife, Al-Saud...


We continued to ask with the same question, and the ambassador grew tired of our persistence. "You are political operators!" he accused. "I'm not a politician."

At last week's Annual Arab-U.S. Policymakers Conference — bankrolled by oil companies Chevron, ExxonMobile, and ConocoPhillips, and weapons contractors Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and Boeing — the Saudi ambassador was the keynote speaker.


Comment: The suffering Al-Saud thinks is just a big laugh:

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Laptop

Weak sauce: Clinton plugs dubious Trump-Russia email server connection - experts find probable spam

Leonid Bershidsky
Bloomberg
Tue, 01 Nov 2016 18:04 UTC
Donald Trump
© AP/Evan VucciDonald Trump speaks during a campaign rally.
With the polls tightening, and the unexpected announcement that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is still looking into her e-mails, it was perhaps inevitable that Hillary Clinton would strike out at Donald Trump by raising his alleged connection with President Vladimir Putin of Russia. But her latest attack has little basis in fact.

On Oct. 31, Slate published a story by Franklin Foer, suggesting that the Trump Organization maintained a server whose purpose was to communicate with two servers at Alfa Bank, a financial institution in Moscow. The story described Alfa as a possible Kremlin front and cited a "Union of Concerned Nerds" -- anonymous techies who obtained the Trump-registered server's logs -- along with one of the biggest names in tech, Paul Vixie, a founder of the internet, who looked at the logs and concluded something "secretive" was going on. It made much of the Trump Organization allegedly renaming the server after a New York Times reporter started asking questions (like Foer, he had been tipped off by the Concerned Nerds' Reddit posts) and said Alfa was the first to communicate with it after the renaming.
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Evil Rays

Propaganda Alert! Ex-DoS official claims US intelligence behind Wikileaks docs - US elite launching counter-coup against Killary to save Republic

Alex Christoforou
The Duran
Wed, 02 Nov 2016 17:24 UTC
steve pieczenik
Steve Pieczenik says that "the second American revolution" is happening right now.

Are we witnessing a deep state civil war take place in the United States of America?

Steve Pieczenik has now come forward with stunning claims that the Clinton machine is in the process of instigating a coup via corruption.


Comment: As opposed to...? How else is business conducted in Washington?! They're all corrupt! But some are better at hiding it. Which is why Clinton is a liability.


Pieczenik then explains in the video released onto Youtube (see below), that the U.S. Intelligence community has started a counter-coup against the Clinton machine, working in unison with Julian Assange to save the US Republic:



Comment: Yes, to save the US Republic!... for the elite. Clinton provokes such revulsion in the population that the elite has apparently gauged that restoring whatever faith it can in The American Dream is best served by installing Trump instead.


All the data dumps from Wikileaks were courtesy of counter-coup whistleblowers, working to prevent the Clinton network from taking over the US government.


Comment: Really? We heard it was just a disgruntled Clinton insider. Is Pieczenik not so subtly trying to steal someone's else thunder here?


Comment: Not likely. Remember, if the Clintons go down, they all go down. Can you imagine how many people would be implicated, across all party lines, if the broad scale corruption and deviancy that defines ALL of Washington politics were to be fully revealed? Members of the elite that want Clinton to not win the election - assuming that is even what's going on - are doing so using vague references to missing emails for a reason: if they lob nukes at Hillary, they could all be vaporized.

A couple of stories featuring Pieczenik from the SOTT archives: Wikipedia notes:
Pieczenik has been affiliated in a professional capacity as a psychiatrist with the National Institute of Mental Health. Pieczenik has consulted with the United States Institute of Peace and the RAND Corporation. As recently as October 6, 2012, Pieczenik was listed as a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). According to Internet Archive, his name was removed from the CFR roster sometime between October 6 and November 18, 2012. Publicly, Pieczenik no longer appears as a member of the CFR.
...
In 1992, Pieczenik told Newsday that in his professional opinion, President Bush was "clinically depressed". As a result, he was brought up on an ethics charge before the American Psychiatric Association and reprimanded. He subsequently quit the APA. He calls himself a "maverick troublemaker. You make your own rules. You pay the consequences." [SOTT: Note the timing: 1992, the year Bush lost his re-election campaign to Clinton.]
...
On May 3, 2011, radio host Alex Jones aired an interview in which Pieczenik claimed that Osama bin Laden had died of Marfan syndrome in 2001 shortly after the September 11 attacks, and that the attacks on the United States on 9/11 were part of a false flag operation by entities within the American government, the Israeli leadership and Mossad.

On October 20, 2011 in an interview with Alex Jones, Pieczenik claimed that Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was alive, and said, "There's no way they killed Muammar Gaddafi, that's not our operating mode and I've been involved in 30 years with the takeouts and regime changes." He also criticised President Barack Obama, calling him an "obsessional pathological liar".
He's an interesting character to say the least.

It looks like Clinton has become such a liability that the Deep State has decided to change its narrative and pull support for her. Now they can frame the upcoming election as a triumph of American justice, where corruption is fought against and the great American Republic is preserved thanks to a few good men.

The alternative: a Clinton presidency which tacitly admits to the world that the U.S. is a den of corruption at the highest levels, and its democracy is a joke.

We do wonder what forced their hand so late in the election. Have they had a sneak preview at the early votes, which account for some 20% of the likely total turnout? And did this sneak preview tell them Trump's going to win?

See also: Is Clinton finished? FBI doubles down, says no evidence of Trump-Putin collusion

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Cowboy Hat

Keeping it real: Lavrov says US will have to negotiate with Russia, can't act alone on global issues


RT
Wed, 02 Nov 2016 17:36 UTC
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
© Vladimir Pesnya / Sputnik
The US will have to negotiate with Russia on finding solutions to international issues as no state is now able to act alone, the Russian foreign minister said, adding that problems in bilateral relations began to mount long before the Ukrainian crisis broke out in 2014.

The international community should not play by Washington's rules despite the US being a great power, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday, referring to a recent statement by President Vladimir Putin.

"Two or three months ago US President Barack Obama said it is they who set the rules," Lavrov said, following a meeting with his Greek counterpart, Nikos Kotzias. "If our American partners think so, they will go through quite painful periods of realizing [the fact] that no one in this world could act alone any longer," he added.

Both Washington and Moscow are destined "to negotiate anyway," the foreign minister said, adding "the sooner it happens, the better."
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