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Russian Tu-160 strategic bombers arrive in Venezuela after 10,000km transatlantic flight, Pompeo throws a hissy fit


RT
Tue, 11 Dec 2018 02:15 UTC
Russian Tu-160 strategic bombers land in Venezuela
Venezuela has welcomed the arrival of Russian Tu-160 strategic bombers as an opportunity to demonstrate its resolve to defend the nation against possible foreign military intervention, with the help of "friends" if need be.

Two Tu-160 strategic bombers made a gracious landing at Simón Bolívar International Airport on Monday where they were greeted by the honor guard of the Venezuelan air force. Wearing orange pilot suits and combat helmets, Russian servicemen descended onto the runway where they were eager to present their colleagues with a scaled model of the 'White Swan' bomber, which they had just flown over 10,000 kilometers to reach the Caribbean shores in order to take part in "combined operational flights" with the Venezuelan Air Force.
We are getting prepared to defend Venezuela when it is needed.
And Venezuela "will do it with our friends who advocate respect-based relations between states," Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez said after the two bombers, together with An-124 transport and an Il-62 plane, landed in Venezuela.


Comment: No doubt this strengthening of Venezuelan defenses has thrown much of Washington's regime-changers into the throes of anger; Maduro's government will now be that much more difficult to topple - and all because of a Russian-Venezuelan alliance no less!

Of course the hegemonic clique can't say this, so they have to lash out by pretending to take the moral high ground in laughably hypocritical fashion. From RT:
A tweet posted by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo condemning the landing of two Russian bombers in Venezuela as a "squandering" of public money, has quickly backfired, with many eager to point out some glaring hypocrisies.

Russia sent the two Tu-160 strategic bombers on the 10,000km trip to land at Simón Bolívar International Airport on Monday in a show of support for the government of President Nicolas Maduro, which has repeatedly expressed concerns that the US is trying to topple it.


Maduro on Sunday warned of an effort "directly coordinated from the White House to disturb democratic life in Venezuela" and a possible "coup" against the government.

Pompeo eagerly denounced Russia for sending the bombers "halfway around the world," writing that it amounted to "two corrupt governments squandering public funds, and squelching liberty and freedom while their people suffer."

But the responses to the tweet were probably not quite what Pompeo anticipated, with many noting that the US has been known to send its own bombers around the world without much consideration for national boundaries and international law.





Others pointed out that the US not only sends its own bombers wherever it wants but actually has hundreds of bases for them all over the world.


Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov had a few choice words for Pompeo as well:
Mike Pompeo is in no position to claim that sending two strategic bombers to Venezuela was a "squandering" of public funds, Moscow countered, saying half of the US military budget is enough "to support all of Africa."

The US Secretary of State produced a lengthy tirade on Twitter on Tuesday, claiming the arrival of two Russian Tu-160 bombers was an example of "two corrupt governments squandering public funds, and squelching liberty and freedom while their people suffer." Later in the day, the remark was met with a sharp rebuke from the Kremlin.

"This is indeed very undiplomatic," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists, adding, "we think it was an utterly inappropriate comment." US President Donald Trump might "give his own assessment" of Pompeo's statement as he did in the past, he said.

Saying that, Peskov made a veiled reference to President Trump's inflammatory tweet in which he accused Rex Tillerson, Pompeo's predecessor, of lacking the "mental capacity" to do his job. "He was dumb as a rock and I couldn't get rid of him fast enough. He was lazy as hell," Trump tweeted.

"As far as the 'squandering' is concerned, we don't agree with that," Peskov stated, noting that half of the bulky US military budget "would be enough to support all of Africa."

[...]

That aside, it has recently emerged that Donald Trump has committed to a $750bn military budget, despite earlier labeling the $716bn previously allocated for defense 'crazy'.

Above all, the mammoth US military budget has long been the largest in the world. According to the reputed Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), it dwarfs the defense expenditure of Russia, China, India, the UK, France, and Germany combined.
Watch a good summation of the whole story:


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Gold Coins

Gold on the rise: Russia boosts year-on-year output by 3%


RT
Tue, 11 Dec 2018 17:32 UTC
gold
© Sputnik / Pavel Lisitsyn
Russia's gold production increased by three percent from January through September against the same period a year ago, according to the Gold Industrialists' Union.

Gold output reached 243,000 kilograms, the data from the Moscow-based group showed. The significant boost was reportedly due to increased volumes of ore processing in several of the country's gold mines, including Olimpiada, the Blagodatnoe gold-sulfide deposit, the Verninskoe and Kuranakh mines, as well as others.

Production of high karat gold saw a two-percent increase, while by-product gold output was reduced by 13 percent. Scrap gold production declined by four percent. Output of the precious metal from derived products saw an enormous increase of 57 percent.
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Vader

Latest satellite images shows hundreds of Russian tanks amassing on Ukraine border in answer to Ukraine (NATO) saber-rattling

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Tue, 11 Dec 2018 17:05 UTC
Russian tanks Ukraine border
© Tyler Durden
Satellite imagery from Google Earth taken on November shows hundreds of Russian main battle tanks at a new military base on the outskirts of the Kamensk-Shakhtinsky.
Ukraine's president has recently warned Russian tanks are amassing along the border between the two countries amid increasing tensions. The comments came late last month after three Ukrainian naval boats were seized in the Kerch Strait by Russia.

President Petro Poroshenko has allegedly shown images of what he claims to be hundreds of tanks preparing for an invasion.

Comment: Poroshenko has aligned himself with Russia's foes, and now complains about the consequences. Any build-up of Russian military within its own border has come as an answer to previous NATO moves. It's an attempt to provoke Russia into the war NATO so badly wants.

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Pirates

War crimes against Syrian heritage: Damascus condemns looting of precious antiquities by US, French and Kurdish troops


Sputnik
Tue, 11 Dec 2018 13:13 UTC
Syrian antiquites looted by US & France

The Syrian Foreign Ministry has condemned what it said were illegal excavation works by US, French, and Turkish troops as well as their local allies in areas of Syria under their control, including ancient sites at Manbij, Afrin, Idlib, Hasaka, and Raqqa.
Syria is home to some of the oldest continuously inhabited settlements in the world, and contains cultural artifacts from numerous ancient empires. Amid the war in Syria archeologists worldwide have looked on in horror as terrorists looted and destroyed priceless artifacts in areas under their control.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry has condemned what it said were illegal excavation works by US, French, and Turkish troops as well as their local allies in areas of Syria under their control, including ancient sites at Manbij, Afrin, Idlib, Hasaka, and Raqqa.

Speaking to the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) on Monday, a ministry official said that there had been an increase in excavation work, looting, and theft of ancient cultural artifacts.

"These actions represent a new war crime added to the crimes committed against the Syrian people and Syrian heritage", the official said. According to Damascus, the looting of Syria's historical treasures is part of a deliberate plot by terrorist organisations and their backers to rob the Syrian people of their past and destroy the country's civilisational and cultural heritage.

Comment: See also:

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Light Sabers

Tit-for-tat? Former Canadian diplomat detained in China following capture of Chinese Huawei exec in Canada

John Ruwitch
Reuters
Tue, 11 Dec 2018 17:07 UTC
michael kovrig

Michael Kovrig
A former Canadian diplomat has been detained in China, two sources said on Tuesday, and his current employer, the International Crisis Group, said it was seeking his prompt and safe release.

Michael Kovrig, an employee with the International Crisis Group and former Canadian diplomat appears in this photo provided by the International Crisis Group in Brussels, Belgium, December 11, 2018.

Michael Kovrig's detention comes after police in Canada arrested the chief financial officer of China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd [HWT.UL] on Dec. 1 at the request of U.S. authorities, a move that has infuriated Beijing.


Comment: At the behest of the US who are also seeking her extradition: Break-in at jailed Chinese tech CFO's house in Canada


It was not immediately clear if the cases were related, but the arrest of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver has stoked fears of reprisals against the foreign business community in China.

"International Crisis Group is aware of reports that its North East Asia Senior Adviser, Michael Kovrig, has been detained in China," the think-tank said in a statement.

Comment: It certainly is strange that China and the US would, at least according to some officials, agree to a truce in the trade war, only for (some in) America to start a diplomatic war. And not just with China: US court documents in 'foreign agent' Butina case suggest deal made

See also: The case of Maria Butina - Cults and quadruple agents in Washington

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Better Earth

The EU and the warning signs of Fascism

Kit Knightly
OffGuardian
Mon, 10 Dec 2018 17:03 UTC
eu military
Things are spiralling out of control in Europe, faster than many predicted. Outside of Brexit, there is strong anti-EU feeling in Hungary, Spain, Italy, Greece and France. The EU is in danger of crumbling, and people afraid of losing power are prone to extreme acts of dictatorial control.

How long before the EU truly becomes the authoritarian force that people from both ends of the political spectrum have always feared?

THE EU DEFENCE FORCE

Earlier this year, the EU voted to "punish" one of its own members, Hungary, for the internal policies of its elected government. To be clear about this - whatever you think of Viktor Orban, he was elected by the people of Hungary. He is their legally recognised democratic leader. Hungary voted for him - in contrast, Hungary did NOT vote for any of the 448 MEPs who supported the motion, posed by Dutch MEP Judith Sargentini, that:
The Hungarian people deserve better...They deserve freedom of speech, non-discrimination, tolerance, justice and equality, all of which are enshrined in the European treaties."
Note that "democracy" is not included on that list. "Tolerance", "justice" and "equality", but not democracy. A Freudian slip, perhaps.
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War Whore

Pentagon accounting 'error': US taxpayer foots fuel bill for Saudi jets pounding Yemen


RT
Tue, 11 Dec 2018 17:02 UTC
fighter jets
© AFP / Fayez Nureldine
Pentagon accounting errors have led to the US taxpayer footing the bill for years of refueling for Saudi jets bombing Yemen. The oversight makes the US' support for Riyadh's air campaign even more intolerable, an analyst told RT.

The Pentagon has acknowledged that the Department of Defense "failed to charge the Saudi-led coalition adequately for fuel and refueling services" as Gulf state warplanes rained bombs on Yemen. The size of the "error" naturally compounded over the more than three years that the US offered its services, resulting in an unpaid invoice that likely totals tens of millions of dollars.

While the US halted its refueling support in mid-November as a result of the growing outcry over Saudi human rights abuses, the Pentagon's glaring accounting screw-up is par for the course, investigative journalist David Lindorff told RT.
Here's this huge amount of money being spent on fueling these Saudi jets bombing Yemen. And it's bad enough they're doing it, but then they're not charging the Saudis - who have endless money.
Lindorff claimed that the Pentagon's bookkeeping is "frequently just being made up," adding that the so-called error was just another one of the department's "accounting gimmicks."

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Heart

Putin attends funeral of legendary rights advocate Alekseeva


RT
Tue, 11 Dec 2018 16:56 UTC
putin and Alekseeva
© Sputnik / Aleksey Druzhinin
Vladimir Putin (L) paying respect to the son of Lyudmila Alekseeva (R)
The funeral of legendary Russian human rights defender Lyudmila Alekseeva is being held in Moscow. The solemn ceremony is being attended by prominent public figures across the political spectrum.

Alekseeva died on Saturday last week at the venerable age of 91. A former dissident in the Soviet Union, she was a monumental figure in the Russian human rights movement, remaining an active participant as long as she could.

In the West, she is best known for heading the Moscow Helsinki Group. The leading Russian advocacy group traces its history back to a dissident fellowship established in 1976 and saw resurgence during the years of Perestroika, becoming one of the biggest human rights organizations in the country.

Alekseeva's funeral on Tuesday is a rare event bringing together both veteran government officials like Parliament Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin, and the fiercest critics of the Russian government like opposition leader Aleksey Navalny.
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Chess

US Trade rep warns 90 day pause in US-China trade war is a 'hard deadline'


CNBC
Sun, 09 Dec 2018 16:43 UTC
Xi i Trump
© The Japan Times
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said on Sunday he considers March 1 "a hard deadline" to reach a deal on trade with China, and that new tariffs will be imposed otherwise.

"As far as I am concerned it is a hard deadline. When I talk to the president of the United States he is not talking about going beyond March," Lighthizer said on the CBS show "Face the Nation," referring to President Donald Trump's recent decision to delay tariff imposition until March 1 while talks proceed.

"The way this is set up is that at the end of 90 days, these tariffs will be raised," said Lighthizer, appearing to tamp down expectations that the negotiation period could be extended.
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Snakes in Suits

Comey admits he was aware that Steele dossier was financed by Dems before signing off on FISA warrant to surveil Carter Page

Aaron Klein
Breitbart
Mon, 10 Dec 2018 16:31 UTC
comey
© Drew Angerer/Getty
In testimony, former FBI Director James Comey says that prior to signing a FISA application to obtain a warrant to conduct surveillance on Carter Page, a former adviser to President Trump's 2016 campaign, Comey was aware that the dossier authored by former British spy Christopher Steele was financed by Democrats who opposed President Donald Trump.

Yet according to Democratic and Republican House Intelligence memos, that information was not specifically included in the FISA application, which in part relied on Steele's work to obtain warrants to monitor Page.

The Steele dossier was reportedly funded by Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) via the Perkins Coie law firm.

In testimony to the House Judiciary Committee on Friday, Comey was asked about his knowledge of Steele's political patrons. A transcript of Comey's testimony was released on Saturday.
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