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Increased military aid not enough says 'spoiled' Netanyahu


Sputnik News
Fri, 29 Apr 2016 21:24 UTC
Netanyahu and Obama
© AFP 2016/Saul Loeb
US President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hold a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, November 9, 2015.
Israel's Prime Minister denounces $3.7 billion per year in US military aid, the single largest foreign military largesse in world history, in final dagger in President Obama's failed foreign policy.

On Friday, Israeli officials signaled a refusal to come to terms with the Obama administration on a military aid package billed as the single greatest offering of foreign military aid in world history.

The White House announced that they offered Israel an unprecedented $3.7 billion per year over the next ten years, an increase of $700 million per year over America's current $3 billion commitment to Israel. The Netanyahu administration summarily demanded $4.5 billion per year instead.

Sputnik News reached out to Max Blumenthal, a senior writer at Alternet to comment on the developing negotiations. Blumenthal is the son of Clinton family insider Sidney Blumenthal, who served as an aide to former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
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Clock

U.S., Russia and Syria agree on 'regime of silence' in Latakia, Damascus


RT
Fri, 29 Apr 2016 20:33 UTC
aleppo
© Sputnik/ Iliya Pitalev
A "regime of silence" will start in Syria's Latakia Province from midnight on Friday and will last for 72 hours, according to the head of the Russian Center for Reconciliation.

"The Russian and US sides in concurrence with the Syrian leadership are introducing a 'regime of silence' in northern part of Latakia Province from 12:01am local time on April 30, 2016," Lieutenant General Sergey Kuralenko said on Friday as cited by TASS.


Comment: This has got to be a first: the U.S. agreeing with both Russia and Syria on something! Sure, it's only 'on paper', and the U.S. will probably just try to use it to shuffle around some of their terrorists, but still! The U.S. State Department says it wants it "to continue to last". So what's the deal? Were their Jabhat al-Nusrats in danger of getting obliterated again?


"During this period, conducting warfare and use of all types of weaponry will be forbidden," he explained.

Kuralenko called on all parties interested in the peace in Syria "to support Russian-American initiative and allow the disruption of the 'regime of silence'."
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Bomb

U.S. coalition bombs MSF hospital in Aleppo, blames Assad


RT
Fri, 29 Apr 2016 20:12 UTC
aleppo hospital
© REUTERS/ Abdalrhman Ismail
At least 14 people have been killed in an airstrike on a hospital in Aleppo, with the attack having provoked a new blame game. UN special envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura has urged all sides to avoid a "snowball effect" and protect the fragile truce.

The Al Quds hospital in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo was bombed on Wednesday, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF, Doctors Without Borders) said, adding that it supported the medical facility.

At least one airstrike hit the building directly, having completely destroyed it, MSF said citing hospital staff on the ground. At least 14 people were killed, including at least three doctors.


Comment: The death toll has since climbed to 50, including patients and staff.


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Windsock

Obama: It would be a mistake to topple the Assad government


Press TV
Sun, 24 Apr 2016 08:27 UTC
Obama
© presstv.ir
US President Barack Obama has said that toppling the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad would be a mistake. Obama, who made the remarks in an interview with the BBC on Sunday, also ruled out deploying any ground troops to Syria. "It would be a mistake for the United States, or Great Britain or a common nation of Western states to send in ground troops and overthrow the [Bashar al-] Assad regime," he said.

The US president, however, said that all of the parties involved in Syria crisis, including Iran, Russian and what he called the moderate opposition group, can be pressurized into brokering a transition. "But, I do believe that we can apply international pressure to all the parties, including Russia and Iran, who essentially are propping up Assad, as well as those moderate opposition that exist and may be fighting inside of Syria to sit down at the table and try to broker a transition," Obama stated.

Commenting on the campaign against Daesh terrorists, Obama said, "We can slowly shrink the environment in which they operate."


Comment: Why slowly? Shrink environment, not eliminate the problem?


Comment: Obama is backing off, not backing down. He's trying new words to convey his marching orders, phrases he hopes will soften objections. What he should have said was, "We made a horrific mistake and this is an official apology to Syria and its people, to President Bashar and to all who have lost their cities, homes, family and countrymen." It would be a start.

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Light Saber

Keven Barrett: Russia exposed US lies in fighting Daesh


Press TV
Thu, 28 Apr 2016 17:26 UTC
Kevin Barrett interview
© Press TV
"If the US and its allies had wanted to stop the funding for Daesh, they could have done so long ago by cutting supply lines that go through Turkey and then mostly to Israel."

"If the US and its allies had wanted to stop the funding for Daesh, they could have done so long ago by cutting supply lines that go through Turkey and then mostly to Israel," Barrett says.The Daesh (ISIL) terrorist group was created by the US and its allies and their "ruse" in waging a military campaign to allegedly destroy the group has been exposed by Russia, says an American scholar and political analyst.

Dr. Kevin Barrett made the remarks while discussing the US-led military efforts against Daesh which started in 2014 in Iraq and Syria.

US Air Force Major General Peter Gersten, who is responsible for all US-led combat operations across Iraq and Syria, claimed this week that airstrikes by the so-called coalition against Daesh positions inside Syria and Iraq have led to the possible destruction of up to $800 million of the terror group's cash reserves.

"If the US and its allies had wanted to stop the funding for Daesh, they could have done so long ago by cutting supply lines that go through Turkey and then mostly to Israel," Barrett said Thursday.

He said it was instead the Russians that carried out the task in their anti-Daesh military campaign that started last September upon a request by Damascus.

Comment: Further reading

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Snowman

Saudi Arabia's Prince Mohammed: Women 'not ready' to drive because of culture, not religion


RT
Fri, 29 Apr 2016 18:13 UTC
Prince Azzhat
© Charles Platiau/Reuters
Prince Mohammed "Azzhat" bin Salman

Comment: What a misogynistic azzhat representing a society of same!


Saudi Arabia isn't ready to allow women to drive cars, a powerful prince has announced, dismissing suggestions that the ban would soon be lifted.

"So far the society is not persuaded [by women driving] - and it has negative influence - but we stress that it is up to the Saudi society," said Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has been granted unprecedented powers under the rule of his father. The prince added that it is not "a religious issue as much as it is an issue that relates to the community itself that either accepts it or refuses it," Gulf News reported.

Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world where women are not allowed to drive. Although there are no formal written laws barring women from operating vehicles, they are not issued licenses, making it illegal for them to drive.

Other restrictions faced by women in the ultra-conservative country include being forced to wear loose-fitting gowns and being barred from going anywhere without a chaperone. They cannot open bank accounts, work certain jobs, attend university, undergo medical procedures, or travel outside the country without permission of a male guardian - usually their husband or a relative.
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War Whore

The Empire Files: Abby Martin exposes Killary's corporate cronyism

Kit O'Connell
Mint Press News
Wed, 27 Apr 2016 17:43 UTC
hillary
© AP
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at her presidential primary election night rally, Tuesday, April 26, 2016, in Philadelphia.
Abby Martin, a leading alternative journalist, accuses Hillary Clinton of being a political shapeshifter who is "morphing her positions to try to capture support" from supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders.

In an April 17 episode of "The Empire Files," the investigative news program Martin hosts on TeleSUR English, she promised to expose "what Hillary Clinton really represents," devoting the entire half-hour program to exploring the presidential hopeful's history and corporate-driven agenda.

Under pressure from Sanders' unexpected success in his campaign, Clinton has attempted to position herself as an anti-establishment, anti-Wall Street candidate, as well as the best choice to oppose Donald Trump's open racism and Islamophobia.

Comment: See also: Anonymous documents Killary's criminal career

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X

Denied! China blocks US warship from making port call in Hong Kong


Sputnik
Fri, 29 Apr 2016 16:43 UTC
US warship Hong Kong
© Sputnik/ Alexander Vilf
Chinese authorities did not allow the US aircraft carrier John Stennis to make a stop-over at the Hong Kong port, a US consulate official told the South China Morning Post newspaper on Friday. The warship requested a port call permit early Thursday but was denied entry.

"[They] said 'no' to the carrier," the US official told the South China Morning Post newspaper on condition of anonymity.

According to the outlet, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that port calls by US warships had to be approved on a case-by-case basis "in accordance with sovereignty principles." The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs notified the United States that the Stennis would not be permitted to make a scheduled port call in Hong Kong next week, Darragh Paradiso, a spokesperson for the US Consulate General in Hong Kong, told Bloomberg News.
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Attention

Officers responsible for the Kunduz hospital bombing receive little more than a slap on the wrist

Claire Bernish
The Free Thought Project
Thu, 28 Apr 2016 16:39 UTC
MSF bombing
After bombing a Doctors Without Borders (Médicins Sans Frontières, MSF) hospital in Afghanistan — and shooting at terrified victims as they fled the chaos, and then attempting to cover up its role in the tragedy — the Pentagon is refusing to press charges against any of the 16 service members found to be responsible.

Following a six-month Pentagon investigation, those 16 service members were found culpable in the attack in Kunduz, Afghanistan, on October 3, last year that left 42 patients, staff members, and civilians dead. According to the Los Angeles Times:
The 16 found at fault include a two-star general, the crew of an Air Force AC-130 attack aircraft, and Army special forces personnel, according to U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the internal investigation.

One officer was suspended from command and ordered out of Afghanistan. The other 15 were given lesser punishments: Six were sent to counseling, seven were issued letters of reprimand, and two were ordered to retraining courses.
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Star

Body of 'Hero of Palmyra' handed over to Russia


Sputnik
Fri, 29 Apr 2016 16:12 UTC
Alexander Prokhorenko Palmyra
© Sputnik
Alexander Prokhorenko
The Russian Defense Ministry has confirmed that the body of Alexander Prokhorenko, killed during the Palmyra liberation, was returned to Russia.

"It was a matter of honor for the Defense Ministry to return the body of First Lieutenant Alexander Prokhorenko, Hero of the Russian Federation, from the hands of terrorists," the Ministry said in a statement adding that the officer died while carrying out a military task in Syria.

"The fallen officer's body was brought to Moscow after special actions involving the representatives of the Syrian government and Kurdish self-defense forces", the statement read.
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