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Securing the American Empire: U.S. to set up 5 military bases in northern Iraq's Kurdistan Region


Fars News Agency
Mon, 18 Jul 2016 17:39 UTC
iraq
The United States is due to set up five military bases in Iraq's Kurdistan Region as part of a broad security pact signed with the KRG government, a Kurdish source disclosed on Monday.

The source disclosed certain paragraphs of the agreement signed between the US Department of Defense and the Iraqi Kurdistan Region's Peshmerga ministry, including establishment of 5 US military bases in the region.

"One of the bases will be set up in Atroush region, two in Harir region and two large bases in Erbil and Duhok," the source, who called for anonymity, told Iraq's al-Ma'loumah news agency.

"Based on the MoU, the Americans should pay the salaries of Peshmerga forces and train and equip them for 10 years," he added.

His remarks came after a military MOU was signed on Tuesday between the US Department of Defense and the Peshmerga Ministry at the government of Kurdistan to support the Kurdish forces in fighting the ISIL in Iraq.

Comment: During the Turkish coup, their military reportedly pulled back from their positions in northern Iraq. While their presence in Iraq was a violation of Iraqi sovereignty, the U.S.'s presence is considered 'legal'. But many a crime are committed under the guise of the Law. In this case, the Kurds are once again being used to further American geopolitical interests (i.e., destabilization) with the carrot of an independent Kurdistan. This is one area to watch out for in coming months and years.

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Dollar Gold

Same story different campaign: Donald Trump will follow the money

Pepe Escobar
RT
Tue, 19 Jul 2016 17:10 UTC
Trump ralley
© Lucy Nicholson / Reuters
U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Sacramento, California, U.S. June 1, 2016
Imagine hordes of American theocrats, white supremacists, nativists, NRA worshippers, all in an 'open carry' orgy, descending on the Republican convention in Cleveland in the wake of Orlando, Dallas, Nice and Baton Rouge.

What could possibly go wrong?

Welcome to a fully armed and dangerous spectacular featuring, for instance, the
Traditionalist Worker Party (TWP) - allied with the Golden State Skinheads (GSS) - sending a posse to the GOP show to "make sure that the Donald Trump supporters are defended from the leftist thugs." Cleveland's courts are ready to process up to 1,000 arrestees daily, and stay open 20 hours a day. Strip clubs are "pumped for Trump". Certified mayhem overall is bound to add another meaning to the rock 'n' roll mantra "Cleveland Rocks".

Trouble at the Trumpence joint

Compounding the mayhem, there's the Trump-Pence (Trumpence) fracas. Donald Trump remains visibly frustrated by his own appointment of Indiana governor Mike Pence as his running mate. He reportedly spent last Thursday night frantically trying to back down. He was furious that the news leaked before he had a chance to personally tell his double-trouble favorites - pompous twat Newt Gingrich and over-sized blowhard Chris Christie - about his decision.

Comment: No matter who wins the White House, the new boss will be the same as the old boss

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Info

Defiant Beijing vows 'never to stop' construction in South China Sea


RT
Tue, 19 Jul 2016 17:25 UTC
Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy
© AFP
Beijing has pledged to "never stop" construction in the South China Sea, insisting its activities are "justified and lawful." A tribunal at The Hague has rejected China's claims to "historic rights" in the disputed sea in a case brought by the Philippines.

"We will never stop our construction on the Nansha Islands [China's name for the Spratly Islands] halfway," Wu Shengli, the commander of the People's Liberation Army Navy, told US Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson on Monday, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

He stressed that the Spratly Islands are "China's inherent territory, and our necessary construction on the islands is reasonable, justified and lawful."
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Attention

14 Turkish ships, 2 helicopters, 25 special forces reportedly still missing in Turkey


RT
Tue, 19 Jul 2016 17:21 UTC
Turkish frigate
© Wikipedia
Turkish frigate F-495 TCG Gediz.
Turkey's navy is still unable to account for 14 ships, while two helicopters with 25 special forces troops are also missing since an unsuccessful coup plot against the government. However, Deputy PM Numan Kurtulmus has denied any naval vessels are unaccounted for.

With suspicions growing that the commanders of the vessels could have been behind a coup plot against the Turkish government and are now seeking asylum at Greek ports.


Comment: The 8 soldiers that flew a helicopter to Greece for asylum are currently detained and awaiting trial. We'll have to wait and see how Greece responds. So far, the Americans are reported to have denied an asylum request to the Incirlik commander detained by the Turks. Wipe your hands clean!


The ships were on duty in either the Aegean or the Black Seas on Friday before the coup to oust President Recep Tayyip Erdogan took place. However, they have failed to return to port, though in theory radar and satellite tracking technology should be able to determine their locations, according to a report in the Times newspaper.
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Question

Nice attack raises specter of Operation 'Gladio'

Paul Craig Roberts
PaulCraigRoberts.org
Tue, 19 Jul 2016 16:30 UTC
Nice attack bodies on floor
© Eric Gaillard / Reuters
Bodies are seen on the ground July 15, 2016 after at least 30 people were killed in Nice, France, when a truck ran into a crowd celebrating the Bastille Day national holiday July 14.
Commentators who have learned to distrust official explanations, such as Peter Koenigand Stephen Lendman have raised questions about the Nice attack.

It does seem odd that a lone person driving a large truck can gain access to blocked off areas where French people have assembled to watch the fireworks of Bastille Day. It also seems odd that the event is branded a terrorist one when the alleged perpetrator's family says that he was not at all religious and had no religious motivation.


Comment: Investigators have found it difficult to match facts about the man's personal life to his alleged connection with radical Islam. What is known is that he had a history of violence and mental illness.


We will never know. Once again the alleged perpetrator is dead and conveniently left behind his ID.

It looks like a permanent state of martial law in France will be one consequence. This shutdown of society will also dispose of the protests against capitalist puppet Hollande's repeal of France's labor protections. Those protesting the take-back of their hard-earned rights will be closed down under the martial law.

Amazing how convenient the attack was for global capitalism, the primary beneficiary of Hollande's new "labor reform."

Comment: France has seen its fair share of Gladio-inspired ops in recent years. But this event appears to have been more or less as it appears (minus the ISIS nonsense): a mentally-ill criminal who snapped and went on a killing spree. The event is being exploited by the French PTB, but that doesn't mean they planned it. It has gotten to the point where authorities don't need create all events of this sort. In other words, they're getting what they created and 'asked' for. And events like the one in Nice serve that same agenda, because they can easily be fit into the pre-existing narrative.

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Magnify

The Saudis did 9/11: That's what the 28 pages tell us

Justin Raimondo
Antiwar
Tue, 19 Jul 2016 16:50 UTC
Political cartoon of the 28 pages
News reports about the recently released 28 pages of the Joint Inquiry into the 9/11 attacks are typically dismissive: this is nothing new, it's just circumstantial evidence, and there's no "smoking gun." Yet given what the report actually says - and these news accounts are remarkably sparse when it comes to verbatim quotes - it's hard to fathom what would constitute a smoking gun.

To begin with, let's start with what's not in these pages: there are numerous redactions. And they are rather odd. When one expects to read the words "CIA" or "FBI," instead we get a blacked-out word. Entire paragraphs are redacted - often at crucial points. So it's reasonable to assume that, if there is a smoking gun, it's contained in the portions we're not allowed to see. Presumably the members of Congress with access to the document prior to its release who have been telling us that it changes their entire conception of the 9/11 attacks - and our relationship with the Saudis - read the unredacted version. Which points to the conclusion that the omissions left out crucial information - perhaps including the vaunted smoking gun.
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Whistle

Trident renewal 'assures Scottish independence,' says Royal Navy submariner-turned- whistleblower William McNeilly

Rob Edwards
RT
Mon, 18 Jul 2016 09:57 UTC
McNeilly
© Wikipedia
As Prime Minister Theresa May convenes Parliament on Monday to debate renewing Britain's Trident nuclear deterrent, Royal Navy submariner-turned-whistleblower William McNeilly tells RT renewal coupled with Brexit will force Scotland to seek independence.

"They rushed the European vote. Now they want to rush the Trident vote," said McNeilly.

"Those who support the Trident system lack vision. They talk like they are the ones who want to defend the UK. The truth is they are the ones who will destroy the UK if they get their way.

"Voting to leave the EU, then voting Yes on Trident, will guarantee Scottish independence."

In May 2015, McNeilly, 27, leaked a report exposing 30 safety and security failures documented over his three-month tour on board one of Britain's Vanguard submarines. Narrowly escaping jail for the leak, he was dishonorably discharged, returning home to his native Belfast.
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Cell Phone

Pokemon Go and the revolving door between big government and big tech

Tony Cartalucci
Activist Post
Tue, 19 Jul 2016 16:14 UTC
pokemon go
Pokemon Go, a location-based interactive augmented reality (AR) game, has been portrayed as a triumph for video game giant Nintendo. However, it is not entirely Nintendo's doing. Instead, the idea originated within and was developed by Google's internal startup, Niantic.

Niantic, in turn, is headed by John Hanke, who before becoming a tech-entrepreneur worked for the US State Department. The Financial Times in its article, "The man who put 'Pokémon Go' on the map," would report:
Mr Hanke, now 49, had spent more than a decade with the search giant [Google] after it acquired his previous company, Keyhole, whose rich digital cartography and satellite images formed the basis of both Google Earth and Maps. For Mr Hanke, who worked for the US Department of State in Myanmar before moving to the San Francisco Bay Area to study for an MBA at University of California, Berkeley, it was his third start-up to be acquired. Just why Hanke's stint a the US State Department is important is best understood by examining its relationship with Google, the tech-giant Hanke graduated onward to.
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Attention

Turkey suspends over 15,000 education staff and 1,577 deans over coup plot


PressTV
Tue, 19 Jul 2016 16:41 UTC
Turkish national flags during a pro-government demonstration
© Reuters
Turkey's Ministry of National Education says it has dismissed more than 15,000 of its employees from their jobs over their alleged involvement in last week's attempted military coup against the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

In a statement released on Tuesday, the ministry said that "15,200 state employees have been suspended and an investigation has been launched into them."

It further noted that those suspended are in both urban and rural establishments, and that a probe has been launched against them.

Comment: According to the latest from the Turkish Education Ministry:
"The licenses of 21,000 teachers working in privately-run institutions have been cancelled. Tip-offs that these [people] are mostly linked with terrorist activities have been taken into consideration," a ministry official said.
...
In addition, 399 employees of the Ministry of Family and Social Polices were stripped of their responsibilities on Tuesday, and 257 people working at the office of the prime minister were also sacked, Anadolu reported. Turkey's courts have also ordered that 85 generals and admirals be jailed pending trial over their roles in Friday's coup attempt.
...
The newest sackings and calls for resignation are the latest in a movement that Prime Minister Binali Yildirim says is aimed at removing the influence of Gulen "by its roots." A total of 49,337 public sector workers - including military and police personnel - have lost their jobs since Friday, according to Hurriyet.
For context on the purge of Turkey's fifth column, see: Erdogan benefits from Turkish coup attempt because it failed, not because he engineered it

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Info

The latest: Boulel was radicalized in 2 weeks, so says uncle


Yahoo News
Mon, 18 Jul 2016 00:00 UTC
Uncle
© news.sky.com
Sadok Bouhlel, uncle of Mohamed Bouhlel.
The latest on that truck attack in Nice, France (all times local):

11:35 a.m.

The uncle of the man who killed 84 people with a truck on the French Riviera says his nephew was indoctrinated about two weeks ago by an Algerian member of the Islamic State group in Nice. French officials could not confirm Monday that attacker Mohamed Lahouaiyej Bouhlel had been approached by an Algerian recruiter, saying that the investigation is ongoing. The driver's uncle, Sadok Bouhlel, told The Associated Press that given Bouhlel's family problems — he was estranged from his wife and three children — the Algerian "found in Mohamed an easy prey."

Bouhlel's rapid radicalization has puzzled investigators. Friends and family said he had not been an observant Muslim in the past. Sadok Bouhlel spoke in the driver's hometown of Msaken, Tunisia. He said he learned about the Algerian from extended family members who live in Nice.

IS claimed responsibility for the attack Thursday but Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said Monday that investigators have found no sign yet that Bouhlel had links to a particular network.

Comment: See also: French PM: Nice truck attacker was radicalized "very quickly", 2 more arrested in connection with attack

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