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Light wars: N. Korea threatens to fire at lighting equipment of US, S. Korean troops near its border


RT
Sat, 27 Aug 2016 12:12 UTC
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un
© KCNA / Reuters
North Korea has threatened to fire at lighting equipment being used by the US and South Korean militaries at a village inside the Demilitarized Zone.

An official statement by the North's Korean People's Army accuses US and South Korean troops of initiating "deliberate provocations" by targeting North Korean posts with the lights. The accusations were cited by AP.

The statement comes just a few hours after the UN Security Council slammed North Korea for launching four missiles over the last two months.
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SOTT Focus: Turkey intervenes in Syria with US support: The end for Kurdish autonomy or independence?

Paul Mansfield
Sott.net
Fri, 26 Aug 2016 21:49 UTC
Fierce fighting broke out in Hasakah, in northeast Syria last week, pitting the Syrian government's National Defense Forces (NDF) against US-backed Kurdish YPG and Asayish security forces. Control of the city is divided between the Syrian government and the Kurds, and after a relatively peaceful relationship, the question has to be asked: what incited the clashes?

The Syrian army reported a ceasefire violation on 16 August of the YPG firing mortars at their positions. The Governor of Hasakah, Mohammad Za'al al-Ala, said that Kurdish forces blocked the Hasakah-Qamishli road last week and prevented the military, police and security forces from joining other forces. An apparent ceasefire agreement has been struck, although it reads more as a capitulation by the Syrian government and NDF forces. The YPG had earlier called for Syrian government forces to leave the city, which this agreement insists upon. The map below, showing the encirclement of loyalist/NDF forces suggests this may be a wise strategic withdrawal.
hasakah
The ceasefire came into effect at 2pm on Tuesday, following Kurdish YPG efforts to capture the government-held areas of the city. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the YPG is now in control of nearly all of Hasakah.
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Chess

Bolivia in the cross-hairs: U.S. ramps up hybrid war efforts in wake of Chinese-Russian strategic partnerships with Bolivia


Gpolit.com
Fri, 26 Aug 2016 00:00 UTC
bolivia miners protest
Editor's Note: Andrew Korybko's Context Countdown episode from 19 August predicted the onset of Hybrid War against Bolivia, which has now come true with the breaking news that the rioting 'opposition' kidnapped and killed the country's deputy interior minister. We're therefore publishing his transcript from that show to inform our readers about the background context to these events and share Korybko's forecast from that time)

So I was scanning Telesur's website the other day and a pretty interesting story caught my eye. It said that Bolivia had begun exporting 10 tons of lithium to China as the start of what the country hopes will flourish into a multimillion-dollar partnership in the near future. The reason why this is such a big deal and I'm talking about it with you all is because lithium is an integral component of most of our cell phones and electric car batteries, and estimates vary over the size of Bolivia's deposits, with the article saying that the government says it holds 70% of the global total, while the US retorts that this is just about 7%, or 10x less. Regardless of what the actual number really is, the fact that China - the factory of the world - is able to diversify its imports of this rare earth mineral strengthens Beijing's supply strain security with this strategic commodity, and it also pairs well with the billion-dollar coltan investment that it made in the Congo a few months back and which I also covered at the time on Context Countdown. Taken together, China is positioning itself for dominance in the cell phone and electric car industries, which will make it a future leader in these industries.

Comment:

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Stormtrooper

Hungary and Czech Republic speak out in favor of European army


RT
Fri, 26 Aug 2016 20:31 UTC
Hungarian soldiers
© Elvis Barukcic / AFP
The drive to create a joint European army appears to be gaining momentum with the Czech Republic and Hungary both speaking out in favor of deeper defense ties on the continent, in moves which are likely to rile NATO.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has championed the move to create a joint defense force on a number of occasions, says that a joint European army was needed to ensure security.

"We should list the issue of security as a priority, and we should start setting up a common European army," he said on Friday, during a meeting between Hungarian, Czech, Polish, Slovak leaders and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Warsaw, as cited by Retuers.

In July, Orban, who is a staunch critic of the EU's migration policies, said that the union must look to create its own military following the United Kingdom's decision to leave the bloc.

"We need a real army, in which there'll be understanding; in which the orders are given to the same language," the Hungarian PM said.
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Light Sabers

Lavrov in marathon talks with Kerry in Geneva over Syria crisis


RT
Fri, 26 Aug 2016 20:25 UTC
lavrov kerry
© AFP/File | Natalia Kolesnikova
Russian FM Sergey Lavrov and his US counterpart John Kerry have met in Geneva to discuss a peaceful solution to resolve the Syrian crisis. They have been in talks behind closed doors for hours with the UN's Syria envoy making an unexpected visit.

The meeting of the two top diplomats' meeting is taking place at the President Wilson Hotel in Geneva. The discussion that by far has taken over 10 hours and is still not over is hoped to lead the restart of peace talks on a political transition in Syria.

The two were joined by the UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura. It was not clear during the day whether the UN Syria envoy would join the negotiators to share his views on how to put an end to the five-year war.

The main point of the negotiations is to involve "the prospects of arranging a close coordination of Russia's and US efforts in fight against terrorist groups in Syria," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said earlier.
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Bulb

Prime Minister of Slovakia calls on EU to end anti-Russian sanctions


RT
Fri, 26 Aug 2016 20:10 UTC
Robert Fico
© Stephane Mahe / ReutersSlovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has once again called on the European Union to put an end to the sanctions imposed on Russia over the conflict in Ukraine, saying they have proved ineffective.

The call to withdraw the sanctions came after a meeting between Fico and Russian President Vladimir Putin that was held in Moscow on Thursday.

"I personally think that it's time to address the subject rationally and admit that they harm both the EU and Russia," the Slovak PM wrote in a post on his Facebook page accompanied by a photo from his meeting with the Russian president.

The matter of sanctions is expected to be discussed during the EU foreign ministers' meeting next week that Slovakia will chair, as it currently holds the rotating EU presidency.

"They [sanctions] did nothing for (solving) the sensitive issues which they were supposed to deal with. We agreed with Vladimir Putin that our common goal is to restore our trade ties," Fico added.
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Laptop

Abedin emails: 1/3 are 100% redacted, deemed 'too sensitive' for Congress

Jerome R. Corsi
WND
Thu, 25 Aug 2016 00:00 UTC
Clinton Abedin
© redstatewatcher.com
Judicial Watch's release this week of 725 pages of State Department emails involving Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin demonstrates the Obama administration considers a large percentage of the emails sent through Clinton's private server too sensitive for Congress or the American public to read. Of the 725 pages, more than 250 pages were 100 percent redacted, many with "PAGE DENIED" stamped in bold.

Judicial Watch said the new cache includes previously unreleased email exchanges in which former Abedin "provided influential Clinton Foundation donors special, expedited access to the secretary of state." Judicial Watch added that in many instances, the preferential treatment provided to donors was at the specific request of Clinton Foundation executive Douglas Band.

"The Abedin emails reveal that the longtime Clinton aide apparently served as a conduit between Clinton Foundation donors and Hillary Clinton while Clinton served as secretary of state. In more than a dozen email exchanges, Abedin provided expedited, direct access to Clinton for donors who had contributed from $25,000 to $10 million to the Clinton Foundation," Judicial Watch said in a statement announcing the release. "In many instances, Clinton Foundation top executive Doug Band, who worked with the Foundation throughout Hillary Clinton's tenure at State, coordinated closely with Abedin."

100 percent redaction

Previous releases of Clinton emails have forced the Obama administration to admit highly sensitive State Department information was transmitted over Clinton's private email server.

On July 7, Charles McCullough, the inspector general of the intelligence community for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, in testimony before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, admitted his office did not have the security clearances required to read the emails transmitted over Clinton's private email server that Congress was demanding to see.

See C-SPAN video of McCullough's testimony:


Comment: The noose is tightening. Will it be in time to save the nation???

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Stock Down

Senate Majority Leader will not bring TPP up for vote this year


RT
Fri, 26 Aug 2016 20:02 UTC
mitch mcconnell
© Jonathan Ernst / Reuters
The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) may not be dead in the water, but it's struggling to stay afloat now that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) has said he's not willing to serve as its lifeguard.

McConnell said he will not bring the TPP up for a vote in the Senate this year.

"The current agreement, the Trans-Pacific [Partnership], which has some serious flaws, will not be acted upon this year,"McConnell said at the Kentucky State Farm Bureau breakfast on Thursday, The Hill reported.

The Obama administration's signature trade deal to establish regulations between a dozen countries in the Pacific Basin has been largely negotiated in secret. Its opponents say these regulations would undermine jobs in the US and work to the benefit of corporations rather than the 12 nations' workers.

McConnell wasn't willing to kill the deal completely, however, saying that it could see a vote in 2017 if some changes are made.

Comment: For more on the scary implication of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, see:

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Target

US sanctions threaten Russian-Indian oil deal


RT
Fri, 26 Aug 2016 10:00 UTC
Ruia, Sechin
© www.business-standard.comShashi Ruia of India, chairman and co-founder of Essar Group and Igor Sechin, Rosneft CEO.
US sanctions are threatening to derail Russian energy major Rosneft's acquisition of a 49 percent stake in India's Essar Oil, reports The Times of India. The deal was curtailed by the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, according to the daily.

In July 2014, the Department of the Treasury included Rosneft on the list of sanctioned Russian companies after Washington accused Moscow of involvement in the military conflict in Eastern Ukraine and of annexing Crimea.

Indian banks, which invested over $5 billion into Essar Oil and currently hold 17 percent, expressed concerns over the deal due to fears of the potential consequences. "We may have to review our exposure to Essar Oil if Rosneft comes on board," said a top banker with a state-run lender, as quoted by The Times of India.

However, Essar Oil will reportedly try to push the deal with Rosneft through, allowing the Russian company to enter the Indian energy market.

Comment: US sanctions are an attempt to jab at Russia's economic future, the bigger prize should it work.

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Attention

German FM Steinmeier calls for new arms deal with Russia, avoid accidental war


Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Fri, 26 Aug 2016 00:00 UTC
Steinmeier
© TASSGerman Foreign Minister Frank-Waller Steinmeier
Germany's foreign minister is calling for a new arms control deal with Moscow as intensified military exercises by Russia and NATO have raised concerns that a war could inadvertently be triggered.

In an opinion piece in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper on August 26, Frank-Walter Steinmeier said that while Russia has since 2014 violated the bonds of trust built up over decades as well as basic principles of peace, "we must all be united in the desire to avoid a further twist in the escalating spiral."

A new arms control process would offer a "proven means for transparency, risk avoidance, and trust building," he said. "We want a structured dialogue with all partners who carry responsibility for the security of our continent," perhaps working through the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe [OSCE], he said. His comments follow an appeal by former NATO foreign and defense ministers on August 24 for an agreement with Russia on rules for handling unexpected military encounters.

Steinmeier drew some criticism in June for calling NATO's recent military exercises and moves to bolster forces in eastern Europe "saber-rattling and shrill war cries" that could worsen tensions with Russia.

Comment: Steinmeier, while thinking beyond the NATO/US box, has bought into blaming Russia for aggression, "violated bonds of trust." A new agreement, if fair and accurate, would be a step in the right direction, given the West honors the arrangement.

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