© Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images
Observing Israeli Apartheid week, the posters created by the London Palestine Action group were designed to look like real advertisements and feature facts about the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel.
Puppet Masters
Observing Israeli Apartheid week, the posters created by the London Palestine Action group were designed to look like real advertisements and feature facts about the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel.
© AP Photo/ Hussein Malla
Bahrain, Sudan, Somalia, Comoros and Djibouti in solidarity with Riyadh also severed relations with Iran, Kuwait and Qatar decided to pull out their ambassadors to Iran while the United Arab Emirates downgraded level of diplomatic relations with Tehran.
"The ministry advises all citizens not to travel to Lebanon and demands that all citizens residing or visiting Lebanon to leave the country, not to stay there unless necessary, take care and caution while being there and contact the Saudi embassy in Beirut to provide the necessary facilities and care for their safety," the source was quoted by the official SPA news service as saying.
Since political correctness in Russia barred mention of the President's demeanor in his broadcast, I will say what went unsaid: Putin looked stressed, downcast, without his characteristic buoyancy.
Indeed there can be no doubt that many Russians were less than delighted by this news, which interrupts the dramatic winning streak of the Syrian Army under the protection of Russian airpower, and likely brings their ground operations to a halt before they complete the liberation of Aleppo, the second largest city in the country which would give Bashar al-Assad control of most of the population of his country even if large swathes of territory to the east in the direction of Iraq remain in jihadist hands. Moreover, Aleppo, with its northern suburbs, is key to sealing the paths of incursion into Syria from neighboring Turkey and cutting off the jihadists from their main bases of supply.
However, one would be seriously mistaken in reading disappointment into Vladimir Putin's facial expressions last night. They may be attributed to something quite different: what must have been his first experiment with delivery of a talk using a teleprompter. In fact, Putin has always spoken either from a written text that he holds before himself at the lectern or he has spoken extemporaneously. It will take some practice before he attains the unaffected radiance of a Barack Obama before the cameras when reading from a teleprompter.
© unknown
A screen grab of drone footage published on the Russianworks.ru website on January 25, 2016 showing destruction in the western Syrian city of Homs.
A screen grab of drone footage published on the Russianworks.ru website on January 25, 2016 showing destruction in the western Syrian city of Homs.
As was stated by the Russian President, the ceasefire in Syria should occur on February 27th at midnight — this means that the ceasefire must stop the Syrian military, aviation of Russia and the coalition forces under the auspices of the United States.
The Russian head of state said that the agreement on a "cessation of hostilities" in Syria was adopted by the U.S. and Russia as co-chairs of the International support group in Syria. The President in his address made it clear that the agreement on a ceasefire should be the beginning of a political settlement in Syria, where civil war has continued since 2011, in which external forces also intervened.
The victims of the conflict total 470,000 people on both sides.
© Flickr/ Kevin Harber
"We obviously are supporting what [US Secretary of State John Kerry] is doing, the effort to try and bring some ease to the suffering of the Syrian people," Cook said. "But we do not anticipate further military-to-military cooperation with the Russians."
"I'm not aware of any communications were going to have with the Russians in this particular cell," Cook said when asked about the US military relationship with a Russian monitoring facility that began operating on Tuesday at the Hmeimim airbase in Syria.
© Stringer / Reuters
Aircraft carriers are at the heart of the US Navy's global reach capabilities, and a symbol of American military might. The fearsome dreadnoughts can practically endanger any part of the world by deploying their air groups, comprising fighter and strike jets, as well as surveillance and electronic intelligence aircraft.
Every war the US waged during recent decades, including the 1990-1991 Gulf War, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Iraq, involved their use.
The US Navy currently has 10 aircraft carriers in active service, which is equal to what all other countries can field combined.
On Monday, the Washington-based bipartisan Center for a New American Security (CNAS) released a report saying the era of American naval dominance may end soon.
© Alexey Kudenko / Sputnik
Kiev Pechersk Lavra
Kiev Pechersk Lavra
With the word 'Russia' inadmissible, the bill says 'Moscovia' should be used instead.
Violating the ban would be considered a crime and punishable by a fine of about $2,875 and twice that much for repeat offenders and government officials.
The bill was submitted in June 2015 by Oksana Korchinskaya of the Radical Party and is listed for a hearing during parliament's ongoing session, which will last until July 22. The exact date of the hearing hasn't been set yet.
According to the wording of the bill, the word "Rus" and its derivative "Russia" are "unofficial names of the territory of modern Ukraine" and "have historic significance for Ukraine." It says banning the use of these words for modern Russia will "restore historic justice and protect the historic legacy of the Ukrainian people."
Comment: It takes a special kind of incompetence to twist Russia and Ukraine's common history this way and then use it to propose such a ridiculous bill. It appears the United States' political elite created modern Ukraine in their own image.
© Omar Sanadiki / Reuters
Russia and the US agreed the terms for a cessation of hostilities in Syria. The ceasefire will start on February 27 at midnight Damascus time. ISIS, Al-Qaeda and many other terrorist organizations are not part of the truce.
© Gleb Garanich / Reuters
U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt
U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt
Pyatt set out the conditions while speaking at Ukraine Defense and Security Forum. He said that he was glad to see a large number of US defense industry representatives there, but warned Kiev that these companies would be good partners if they "see that the government sticks to the path of reform, that you uphold your IMF commitments, that the government continues to make progress on the critical topic of rule-of-law reform."
"Ukraine has said that it wants to become a major defense exporter. I know that is possible, given the extraordinary capabilities that I have seen the Ukrainian industry demonstrate," Pyatt noted at the 2016 Ukraine Defense and Security Forum in Kiev on Thursday.
"But it can only happen if Ukraine continues to press ahead on critical reforms, tackles corruption, and works to meet NATO standards. This will require a paradigm shift in Ukraine's defense industry, and a move away from a mindset of state-owned enterprises. And, most importantly, the elimination of graft and corruption."
Comment: Of course the IMF wants out, and it's not about some petty corruption either. Things haven't panned out as expected for the US and friends, and now they're bringing themselves down with their own destructive impulses.
© www.nbcnews.com
Germany receives ammo delivery. Prepping?
Germany receives ammo delivery. Prepping?
"In the largest single Europe-bound US shipment of ammunition in 10 years, the 21st Theater Sustainment Command ... transported over 5,000 tons of ammunition ...to the Theater Logistics Support Center, Europe's ammunition depot in Miesau [Germany] Feb. 17-18," said a statement on the US army website. "This critical shipment will help us to continue to enable the NATO alliance, and the fact that it's the largest single shipment in 10 years demonstrates our continued commitment to the defense of our allies," 21st TSC chief of staff, Colonel Matthew Redding, said.
Maintaining a stockpile of ammunition means the US and NATO "can quickly draw ammunition in support of short notice NATO operations," says Redding. "All that effort pays off when we're able to quickly deliver ammo and other supplies to those down-trace units that need them," he went on.
The ammunition was taken in 415 shipping containers and stored in Miesau. It will be available for various troops to support operations, including exercise Anakonda 2016, one of US Army Europe's premier multinational training events, which will be held in Poland in June. The Anakonda 2016 drills will involve more than 25,000 participants from 24 nations, including the UK, the US, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Spain, Sweden and Turkey.
Comment: US/NATO wouldn't have Russia in their crosshairs, would they? With the US strapped into arms and ammunition sales as a postponer-element to financial collapse, this shipment provides a short-term security measure in a couple arenas. When that no longer works, does it up the ammo and default to war? Is that the drill?
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