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Gang leader-ISIS member in Syria, killed in Dagestan


RT
Sat, 30 Jul 2016 07:02 UTC
Kazimagomedov
© twitter.com
Kamaldin Kazimagomedov
A gang leader, who fought alongside terrorist group Islamic State in Syria and is suspected of attacks on both civilians and police in Russia, has been killed in the southern republic of Dagestan, law enforcers reported.

Kamaldin Kazimagomedov's body was identified after he was killed in a firefight on a hill in the south east of Dagestan close to the border with Azerbaijan. A police patrol stopped him for an ID check, after which he drew an assault rifle and opened fire and was killed in response, according to the National Antiterrorism Committee.

The 26-year-old militant studied at the famous Al-Azhar University in Cairo and later surfaced in Syria, where he was fighting in a group pledging allegiance to the terrorist group Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), the report said. In 2014 he used fake papers to return to Russia.

By February 2015 he became the leader of one of militant gangs operating in the turbulent Russian republic. He was suspected of several attacks against police officers and civilians, including the murder of five hunters in September 2015, the report said.

Police searched the area where Kazimagomedov was found and discovered a cache full of ammo, IODs and provisions, the committee added.

Some parts of southern Russia have a long-term insurgency problem fueled by foreign sponsorship. The threat of Russian-born fighters, who went to Syria and Iraq to fight for IS and later returned with combat experience and established links to the terrorist group was one of the reasons cited by Moscow, when it deployed its warplanes in the region following a request from the Syrian government.

Comment: Given the origins of ISIS, and the countries involved in the care and maintenance of it, its network and its affiliates, it is fair to say this malignant militancy has Russian infiltration on the top of its target list. Consider it a scouting party for the big showdown, a distraction with consequences, a deniable penetration of Russian borders by those who puppet from a distance.

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Info

Will anyone listen? Retired French general calls for NATO's liquidation and joint anti-terror alliance with Russia


Sputnik
Sat, 30 Jul 2016 18:14 UTC
French army paratroopers
© REUTERS/ PHILIPPE WOJAZER
NATO's present format and the alliance's continuing expansion eastward is beneficial only to the United States, which seeks to keep Russia and Europe at odds, says retired French Army General Jean-Bernard Pinatel. Accordingly, he suggests the alliance be liquidated or 'Europeanized', and the creation of a European-Russian alliance against terror.

Interviewed by Le Figaro, Pinatel, a retired officer who now works as an expert in geopolitics and economic intelligence, recalled that if Russia and the European countries had succeeded in forming an alliance in the 1990s, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, they would have been able to effectively challenge US pretentions to global hegemony.

Now, the retired general emphasized, the threat of radical Islamist terrorism has once against opened a discussion on global leadership, and whether the US truly deserves its hegemonic position in Europe. According to Pinatel, the spate of attacks in Europe has clearly demonstrated to the French, and to other NATO members, that the US-led alliance is helpless in the struggle against the terrorist threat.
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Bomb

US Army investigating missing guns stolen from base in Germany


Sputnik News
Sat, 30 Jul 2016 19:40 UTC
US Base
© Jen Pippin
The US Army Criminal Investigation Command (CID) is investigating the apparent theft of guns and other military equipment from its base in Stuttgart, Germany, US military news website Stars and Stripes reported on Friday.

CID spokesman Chris Grey said that the investigation into the theft earlier this month at Panzer Kaserne, part ofUS Army Garrison Stuttgart, is still ongoing.

"Several semi-automatic pistols, one small-caliber automatic rifle and a shotgun were among the items taken," from an armory room on the base in Stuttgart, he said.
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Bad Guys

Shady Clinton friend McAuliffe says Killary will support TPP trade deal, despite her denials

Annie Karni
Politico
Tue, 26 Jul 2016 17:46 UTC
hillary
© Getty
Demon.
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, longtime best friend to the Clintons, said Tuesday that he believes Hillary Clinton will support the TPP trade deal if elected president, with some tweaks.

"I worry that if we don't do TPP, at some point China's going to break the rules -- but Hillary understands this," he said in an interview after his speech on the main stage at the Democratic National Convention. "Once the election's over, and we sit down on trade, people understand a couple things we want to fix on it but going forward we got to build a global economy."

Pressed on whether Clinton would turn around and support the trade deal she opposed during the heat of the primary fight against Bernie Sanders, McAuliffe said: "Yes. Listen, she was in support of it. There were specific things in it she wants fixed."


Comment: We wonder what exactly she wants 'fixed'? That's probably an apt choice of word. The game is rigged, after all.


Comment: Who's McAuliffe?
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe under federal investigation for campaign contributions

As part of the probe, the officials said, investigators have scrutinized McAuliffe's time as a board member of the Clinton Global Initiative, a vehicle of the charitable foundation set up by former President Bill Clinton.
It wouldn't be a surprise if Clinton flip-flops on TPP. After all, "Companies [and countries] who have signed on to the U.S. Business Coalition for TPP have donated a minimum of $21 million to the Clinton Foundation", including:
  • Coca Cola ($5,000,000—$10,000,000) Wal-Mart ($2,000,000—$10,000,000) Citigroup ($1,500,000—$6,000,000)
  • Dow Chemical ($1,025,000—$5,050,000)
  • Boeing ($1,000,000—$5,000,000)
  • Exxon Mobile ($1,000,000—$5,000,000)
  • Microsoft ($1,000,000—$5,000,000)
  • Procter & Gamble ($1,000,000—$5,000,000)
  • Pfizer ($1,000,000—$5,000,000)
  • Toyota ($1,000,000—$5,000,000)
  • General Electric ($500,000—$1,000,000)
  • Monsanto ($500,000—$1,000,000)
  • Nike ($500,000—$1,000,000)
  • Visa ($500,000—$1,000,000)
  • Morgan Stanley ($360,000—$775,000) Goldman Sachs ($250,000—$500,000)
  • Australia ($5,000,000—$10,000,000)
  • Brunei ($1,000,000—$5,000,000)
  • Canada ($250,000—$500,000)
Australia actually donated up to $88bln - the reporting on the figure has been contradictory.

So, to ask again, what exactly would Clinton 'fix' about the deal? And who would benefit from those fixes (and vice versa)?

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Arrow Down

Doping scandal: Russia's Isinbayeva loses Rio Bid to compete in the Olympic Games


RT
Sat, 30 Jul 2016 17:08 UTC
Yelena Isinbayeva

Yelena Isinbayeva
Russian pole-vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva has lost her bid to obtain special permission to compete in the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, the two-time Olympic gold medalist has said.

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) barred almost the entire Russian track-and-field team from Rio following accusations of a systematic state-sponsored doping cover-up.

The IAAF, however, has said some Russian track-and-field athletes would be able to compete as special cases.
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Airplane

US surveillance Boeing OC-135B aircraft makes forced landing in eastern Russia


The Siberian Times
Sat, 30 Jul 2016 17:04 UTC
US surveillance Boeing OC-135B aircraft makes emergency landing in eastern Russia.
© Alexander Golovko, KP
US surveillance Boeing OC-135B aircraft makes emergency landing in eastern Russia.
The military aircraft had taken off after a stopover in Ulan-Ude, in the Republic of Buryatia, when the American crew detected a malfunctioning of the landing gear, said Russian reports. The plane was heading for Yakutsk but opted to make an emergency landing at Khabarovsk airport.

'A foreign aircraft made a forced landing in Khabarovsk. All emergency ground services have arrived on site. The flight landed safely at 3 P.M. local time,' said a statement by an airport official.

Earlier, Russian Defense Ministry Nuclear Risk Reduction Centre officials announced that a US Boeing OC-135B aircraft would conduct an observation flight over Russian territory between July 25 and 30.

There was no official comment from the Eastern Military District on the incident, but an army source cited by Komsomolskaya Pravda Khabarovsk suggested the malfunctioning was 'not coincidental', and perhaps related to recent military exercises in the area.

'They were due to go direct from Ulan-Ude north-northeast to Yakutsk. Just imagine the kind of loop they needed to make to request the landing at approximately the same distance, but to the east?,' said the unnamed source.

The plane seats up to 35 people, including the cockpit and maintenance crew and 'foreign country representatives' and crew members from the U.S. Department of Defense's Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA).
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Bulb

French delegation visits Crimea to see first hand referendum reflected people's will


RT
Sat, 30 Jul 2016 17:01 UTC
French MPs by the State Council of the Republic of Crimea
© Alexandr Polegenko / Sputnik
French MPs by the State Council of the Republic of Crimea.
Crimea's reunification with Russia reflects the will of the majority of the Crimean people, the head of a French delegation visiting the peninsula says. He added that if it had not joined Russia, it could have been turned into a battle zone like east Ukraine.

A group of French PMs led by the National Assembly member and the former transport minister Thierry Mariani, who initiated the debate on lifting the anti-Russian sanctions in the French parliament, went to Crimea to see what life was like. This is the second time he has been to the peninsula since it re-joined Russia.

"The referendum on Crimea's accession to Russia reflected the will of the people," Mariani said, adding that, during their visit to the peninsula, the French delegation "got an impression that the decision to reunify with Russia corresponds with the majority opinion" of the Crimean population.
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Better Earth

Russia-ASEAN countries reach for a new level of international cooperation - what a concept!

Alexander Yakovenko
RT
Sat, 30 Jul 2016 16:36 UTC
putin
© Reuters
Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures as he arrives for a meeting with businessmen on the sidelines of the Russia-ASEAN summit in Sochi, Russia, May 20, 2016
The ASEAN countries remain Russia's primary focus in South-East Asia.

Driven by the desire to have partners in developing trade and strengthening security in the region, Russia established relations with ASEAN in 1991 and in 1996 became a full-fledged dialogue partner.

We accessed to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia in 2004. A very important and powerful impetus was given to 20-year ASEAN-Russia cooperation after the Sochi Summit in May 2016.

The Sochi Summit emphasized the progress on economic, trade, and investment cooperation and people-to-people contacts, achieved by both parties. One of the key results of the summit was launching the initiative to strengthen interaction between the Eurasian Economic Union and the ASEAN and create a broad Eurasian Economic partnership with the participation of the EAEU, the SCO and the ASEAN countries while leaving the doors open for other interested nations.

Comment: ASEAN nations better watch their backs. During the Cold War, nations were destroyed for less... The West is like a jealous husband with a penchant for violent retaliation: "You're mine or nobody's."

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Che Guevara

Gaddafi's Ghosts: Return of the Libyan movement that was inspired by the NATO-assassinated leader

Dan Glazebrook
RT
Sat, 30 Jul 2016 11:30 UTC
Muammar Gaddafi
© Carlos Garcia Rawlins / Reuters
Former Libya's leader Muammar Gaddafi
When NATO murdered Gaddafi and blitzed his country in 2011, they hoped the socialist 'Jamahiriya' movement he led would be dead and buried. Now his son has been released from prison to a hero's welcome with his movement increasingly in the ascendancy.

There were various moments during NATO's destruction of Libya that were supposed to symbolically crown Western supremacy over Libya and its institutions (and, by implication, over all African and Arab peoples): the 'fall of Tripoli' in August 2011; Cameron and Sarkozy's victory speeches the following month; the lynch-mob execution of Muammar Gaddafi that came soon after. All of them were pyrrhic victories - but none more so than the death sentence handed down to Gaddafi's son (and effective deputy leader) Saif al-Gaddafi in July 2015.

Saif had been captured by the Zintan militia shortly after his father and brother were killed by NATO's death squads in late 2011. The 'International' Criminal Court - a neocolonial farce which has only ever indicted Africans - demanded he be handed over to them, but the Zintan - fiercely patriotic despite having fought with NATO against Gaddafi - refused. Over the next two years the country descended into the chaos and societal collapse that Gaddafi had predicted, sliding inexorably towards civil war.

Comment: To further round out the picture of NATO's very hostile take-over of Libya, do not miss the SOTT Radio Network's interview:

Behind the Headlines: NATO Slaughter - James and Joanne Moriarty expose the truth about what happened in Libya

and

Behind the Headlines: Libyan 'Islamic State', with James & JoAnne Moriarty

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Hourglass

Political challenges: Nord Stream 2 pipeline risks delays due to Polish hurdle

Henry Foy in Warsaw and Jack Farchy in Moscow
Financial Times
Thu, 28 Jul 2016 16:08 UTC
Gas pipes
© Getty
The consortium of European companies behind Nord Stream 2, the $11bn gas pipeline planned to run between Russia and Germany, has four weeks to resolve Polish objections to the project or risk damaging delays.

Nord Stream 2 — a joint project between Russia's state-owned gas company Gazprom and private groups Shell, EON, Wintershall, OMV and Engie — would double the capacity of the Baltic Sea pipeline route. But many eastern European countries fear that it will increase reliance on politically-sensitive Russian supplies.

UOKiK, the Polish anti-monopoly watchdog, said last week it objected to the project as it would increase Gazprom's already dominant position in European gas markets. An official at the watchdog told the Financial Times this week that it had given the consortium four weeks to present its arguments for the objections to be dropped.

"The initiative is with them," said the UOKiK official, who declined to be named as they were not permitted to speak to the media. "So far they didn't respond directly to our concerns or propose remedies regarding the statement of objections."
      Read More...
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