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Libya helicopter crash exposes secret French, US, UK violation of Libyan sovereignty


Sputnik
Fri, 22 Jul 2016 14:53 UTC
french libya
© AFP 2016/ DOMINIQUE FAGET
By confirming the death of its three servicemen in Libya, France has admitted the presence of its special forces on the ground in the country; earlier the Pentagon also confirmed its presence on the ground in Syria. Chris Nineham from the Stop the War Coalition says that the majority of such operations are carried out without any UN authorization.

On Wednesday French government spokesman Stephane Le Foll confirmed the deaths of three French soldiers who were on an intelligence-gathering mission in Libya and died in a helicopter crash near Benghazi, thus admitting the presence of its special forces on the ground in the North African country.

"The special forces are there, of course, to help ensure that France is present everywhere in the fight against terrorists," Le Foll explained in an interview with the radio station France Info.

Reports suggest that following the Daesh takeover of Libya's coastal city of Sirte in late 2015, the United Kingdom and Italy have also sent special forces to Libya.

Comment: See also: France confirms troop presence in Libya after 3 soldiers killed in helicopter shoot down. For more on the background of what's going on in Libya at the present time, see: Arms sales to Libya is the least bad option.

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Bad Guys

Former chief-of-staff to US Secretary of State: 'Damn straight the CIA had something to do with Turkish coup attempt'


Sputnik
Fri, 22 Jul 2016 14:16 UTC
CIA seal
© Associated Press Photo/Carolyn Kaster
The CIA seal is seen displayed before President Barack Obama speaks at the CIA Headquarters in Langley, Va., Wednesday, April 13, 2016
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director John Brennan undoubtedly played some role in the July 15th coup attempt to oust Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, former chief-of-staff to US Secretary of State Colin Powell Lawrence Wilkerson told Sputnik. On Tuesday, US State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner rejected media allegations that the United States had any involvement in Friday's military coup in Turkey that resulted in 300 deaths and more than 1,400 wounded.

"No doubt in my mind that John Brennan and others knew what was going down in Turkey [and] damn straight we had something to do with it," Wilkerson stated on Tuesday. "Either we were on the inside advising against it, which happens from time to time, or we were on the inside very, very forcibly influencing it, or somewhere in between."

The United States, Wilkerson noted, has long since institutionalized coups as a standard political and military tool to remove problem governments inimical to US interests. "Don't you think it's not going on because once you institutionalize covert operations the way we have, once you become the 'New Rome' like we have, you are inescapably caught in these operations," Wilkerson added.

During the presidency of Ronald Reagan, 58 covert operations took place under the CIA directorship of Bill Casey, Wilkerson observed.

"Put on your caps for a moment and think what's going on right now that your grandchildren, children will read in 25 years like people read about the overthrow of Iran [Prime Minister] Mohammad Mosaddegh in 1953, and don't you think for a moment that it isn't going on in Caracas, in Kiev, indeed perhaps in places like Ankara, Damascus and in Baghdad," Wilkerson maintained.

Wilkerson is a distinguished adjunct professor of Government and Public Policy at the College of William and Mary in the US state of Virginia.

Comment: Toner's denial of US involvement in turkey's failed coup is patently absurd. Toner also went on to say , "there's never a justification for an attempt to overthrow a democratically elected government." Coups are part and parcel to the operation of the United States on the global stage. Here's William Blum's list of successful CIA interventions since WWII, and yes, Ukraine (2014) should be added:
Noam Chomsky calls William Blum's classic, Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions since World War II, "Far and away the best book on the topic." If you're looking for historical context for what you are reading or watching on TV about the coup in Ukraine, Killing Hope will provide it. The title has never been more apt as we watch the hopes of people from all regions of Ukraine being sacrificed on the same altar as those of people in Iran (1953); Guatemala(1954); Thailand (1957); Laos (1958-60); the Congo (1960); Turkey (1960, 1971 & 1980); Ecuador (1961 & 1963); South Vietnam (1963); Brazil (1964); the Dominican Republic (1963); Argentina (1963); Honduras (1963 & 2009); Iraq (1963 & 2003); Bolivia (1964, 1971 & 1980); Indonesia (1965); Ghana (1966); Greece (1967); Panama (1968 & 1989); Cambodia (1970); Chile (1973); Bangladesh (1975); Pakistan (1977); Grenada (1983); Mauritania (1984); Guinea (1984); Burkina Faso (1987); Paraguay (1989); Haiti (1991 & 2004); Russia (1993); Uganda (1996);and Libya (2011). This list does not include a roughly equal number of failed coups, nor coups in Africa and elsewhere in which a U.S. role is suspected but unproven.
See also:

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Heart - Black

Bloodbath on Turkey's Bosphorus Bridge caught on CCTV during coup attempt (GRAPHIC)


RT
Fri, 22 Jul 2016 14:48 UTC
Bosphorus Bridge coup Istanbul
© Reuters
Still frame taken from video shows people gathering along the road to the Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul, during an attempted coup in Turkey, on July 15, 2016
New footage of the bloodbath captured on CCTV cameras from multiple angles reveals the true horror that unfolded on the Bosphorus Bridge on the night of July 15 when civilians clashed with rogue military forces who tried to take power in the country.

As tanks rolled onto the streets of Istanbul on Friday night, by 7:30pm GMT, uniformed soldiers from the breakaway army units proceeded to block two major bridges - Bosphorus Bridge and Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge.

After gunfire and explosions rocked Istanbul, soldiers took up positions and ordered a state television channel to read out a message declaring they had taken power.

The announcement mobilized civilians on the Asian side of the famous Bosphorus Bridge, which connects the European and Asian sides of Istanbul. Coup soldiers and military vehicles, including tanks, quickly blocked the path to the European side, to prevent anti-coup activists from ruining the takeover plans.

Comment:

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Beaker

Putin calls for independent commission with foreign experts to address the Russian doping accusations


RT
Fri, 22 Jul 2016 14:52 UTC
Putin
© Alexander Zemlianichenko / Reuters
Russian President Vladimir Putin has urged the creation of an independent commission, with the inclusion of foreign experts, to address problems with the anti-doping system in Russian sports.

"I think it would make sense to address the Russian Olympic Committee with a proposal to establish an independent, I want to emphasize, an independent public commission, which, besides the Russian specialists, would include foreign experts in the field of medicine and law as well as respected public and sports figures," the Russian president said.

Putin added that the main task of the proposed commission would be "strict control over the efficient implementation of the national plan for the fight against doping."

"There is no place and can never be a place for any doping in sports," the Russian president said, telling Russia's Olympic Committee to work closely with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
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Dollar

Fire sale: Crimea to sell Kolomoisky's assets to compensate swindled depositors of his bank


RT
Fri, 22 Jul 2016 14:47 UTC
Ihor Kolomoisky
© Mikhail Markiv / Sputnik
Igor Kolomoisky, Ukrainian-Cypriot-Israeli business oligarch, former Governor of Dniepropetovsk
Twenty businesses formerly owned by Ukrainian oligarch Igor Kolomoisky will be sold by the Crimean authorities. The region's government is seeking to compensate people who lost money in Ukrainian banks, mostly Kolomoisky's PrivatBank.

Crimea's Deputy Speaker Konstantin Bakharev says the oligarch's assets will be sold by year-end for 2 billion rubles (about $30 million).

"The money will be transferred to the depositor protection fund for compensation payments to residents of the Crimea, whose deposits in the Ukrainian banks exceeded 700,000 rubles ($10,500)," he said.

Bakharev added the republic has already raised 1.5 billion rubles ($23.5 million) from the sale of Kolomoisky's assets. The majority of the tycoon's assets are hotels or summer camps for children.
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Stormtrooper

Seriously? Saudi Arabia and allies condemn Yemen's resistance to being conquered


Moon of Alabama
Thu, 21 Jul 2016 14:20 UTC
Saudi Arabia bombing Yemen
Since March 2015 Saudi Arabia, with active help of the U.S., UK and UAE, is trying to subdue Yemen by force. Using foreign and Yemeni proxy forces it attempted to march towards the Yemeni capital Sanaa. But all efforts to move from the desert and coastal plains into the mountainous heart of Yemen failed. Thousands of Saudi air strikes, planned with and supported by the U.S., destroyed much of Yemen's infrastructure and heritage but failed to change the military balance.

Followers of the Houthi movement and the Yemeni army loyal to former president Saleh defeated all incursions. At the southern coast al-Qaeda aligned fighters, with silent help from the Saudis, gained and hold some ground around Aden. But they are unable to proceed from there.

The Houthis and their allies then turned the war around by invading Saudi Arabia. This led to peace negotiations under hapless UN supervision. But after the Houthis, in a good-will gesture, stopped further attacks on Saudi Arabia the negotiations failed. The Saudis had demanded total surrender which, for some reason, the Houthis and their allies were not willing to concede. Air attacks by the Saudis increased again and they announced, for the twentieths or so time, that their proxy forces will conquer Sanaa within weeks.

Comment: More information

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Magnify

Logical Lavrov: Russia-Turkey relations depend on cooperation on Syria


ITAR-TASS
Fri, 22 Jul 2016 14:41 UTC
Soldiers raising Turkish flag
© Valeriy Sharifulin/TASS
The development of relations between Russia and Turkey will depend on their cooperation on Syria and on whether Turkey will take steps against those who use this country's territory to finance terrorists in Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday.

"We presented a lot of evidence that indicates that Turkey's territory is widely used to finance terrorists and redeploy gunmen to Syria," the minister told the Territory of Meanings on the Klyazma national educational youth forum. "Now that we have resumed our relations, it will be difficult to ignore the fact that our Turkish partners will have to answer these questions now, and not only answer, but also take steps, as they used their territory to support this fratricidal war."

He noted that Turkey's neighbors "realize that cooperation should be increasingly more based on trust and candor."

"All the more so because the situation in Syria has changed over the past few months, and conditions are being created for defeating terrorists and launching a genuine intra-Syrian dialogue," the minister said.

Comment: Lavrov states the obvious plainly and clearly.

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Monkey Wrench

Turkey to restructure military, eradicate 'separatist & terrorist' infiltrators


RT
Fri, 22 Jul 2016 14:26 UTC
erdogan
© Umit Bektas / Reuters
Gulenists.
A new coup attempt is still possible in Turkey because "separatists" and "terrorists" have potentially infiltrated the state structure, President Tayyip Erdogan has warned, claiming that the failings which led to the putsch mean a restructuring of the military is required.

The Turkish leader stressed that while the threat of another power takeover is a possibility, such an attempt would not be easy, as security forces and intelligence agencies "are more vigilant" following the failed coup.

After declaring a state of emergency late Wednesday, Erdogan in an interview with Reuters revealed that lapses in intelligence led to the previous attempt to seize control of the country.

"It is very clear that there were significant gaps and deficiencies in our intelligence, there is no point trying to hide it or deny it. I told it to the head of national intelligence," Erdogan told the new agency.


Comment: This doesn't necessarily contradict previous reports that Erdogan did have prior knowledge of the coup. That intelligence could have been foreign-sourced, in which case they found something Turkish intel missed.

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Cowboy Hat

Lavrov makes excellent points: West acts in the Middle East 'like a bull in a china shop'


ITAR-TASS
Fri, 22 Jul 2016 14:31 UTC
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
© Alexandr Sherbak/TASS
The West's incompetent policy in the Middle East and North Africa has led to the current consequences in the region, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday.

"What is happening in the Middle East, North Africa is the direct result of a very incompetent and unprofessional attitude to the situation," Lavrov said.

"In their desire to keep their dominance, our Western partners acted like a bull in a china shop. In Iraq, an overthrow of the regime was announced under a false pretext," Lavrov said.

"Partners say: let's resolve the problem of Libya, Syria and Iraq, organize elections and eradicate terrorism. They say: first it is necessary to remove Assad [Syrian President Bashar Assad] and then we'll struggle against terrorism," Lavrov said.

"We say: Okay, we'll urgently organize elections in Syria and Assad will be removed by way of elections. And who will guarantee that Syria won't repeat the Libya scenario?" Lavrov noted.
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Stop

UN advisor Egeland: 48-hour local ceasefires to aid besieged zones

Tom Miles, Stephanie Nebehay
Reuters
Thu, 21 Jul 2016 02:54 UTC
Jan Egeland
© REUTERS/DENIS BALIBOUSE
Special Advisor UN Jan Egeland
The United Nations called on Thursday for Syria's warring sides to observe 48-hour local truces to let aid reach eastern Aleppo and other besieged zones where civilians may be starving. Jan Egeland, humanitarian advisor to U.N. Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura, said an escalation in fighting was stopping aid from getting through in many areas.

"A humanitarian truce could work in following manner: we get 72 hours notice to go and we get a pause in the fighting for 48 hours. That is what we need. That is what it takes to have a lifeline to places where people are at the brink of starvation.

"Eastern Aleppo has become such a place," he told reporters in Geneva, after chairing a weekly humanitarian task force meeting attended by diplomats from Russia, the United States, Iran, Saudi Arabia and other countries with influence in Syria. Egeland said Turkey's coup attempt last weekend had not had any noticeable effect on aid supplies going into Syria.

Around 200,000-300,000 people in rebel-held eastern Aleppo have been cut off since fighting cut the last supply route, the Castello Road, on July 7. "We need this lifeline to be re-established," Egeland said, adding that there were "a few weeks of supplies, not even a month" in the besieged zone.

Comment: No doubt civilians are in dire need of supplies. When it is proposed, there is often an interesting correlating factor in the timing and benefits of a ceasefire for the rebel factions. When truces happen, rebel relief is the impetus; civilian relief is more than not the motivational screen.

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