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Ukraine impression management: Downplay Trump's consideration of Russian claim to Crimea


Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Fri, 29 Jul 2016 00:00 UTC
UN Ambassador Volodymyr Yelchenko
© United Nations
Ukrainian UN Ambassador Volodymyr Yelchenko
Ukraine's ambassador to the United Nations has downplayed a comment by U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump that he would consider recognizing Russia's widely condemned annexation of Crimea. "Mr. Trump is not the president of the United States, at least not yet, " Ambassador Volodymyr Yelchenko said in New York on July 28 as he urged the UN Security Council to declare a recent Russian move to incorporate Crimea into southern Russia "null and void" and once again reaffirm that the peninsula belongs to Ukraine.

"There are the well-known decisions of the United Nations" condemning the annexation as illegal in 2014, he said. "I'm pretty sure that any U.S. government will pay full respect to those decisions."

Yelchenko was responding to comments by Trump on July 27 that appeared to create an opening for Russia by leaving open the question of whether he would recognize Crimea as Russian territory and lift sanctions on Moscow. "We'll be looking at that," Trump said at a news conference. "Yeah, we'll be looking." Yelchenko said: "If this is his opinion as a candidate for the president of the United States, well, this is his opinion. I hope and I'm almost sure that this opinion will change."

The Obama White House said on July 28 that there was no change in its stance on Crimea's annexation, which led to several rounds of sanctions on Russia.

"The United States has been very direct about our view that the attempted annexation of Crimea by Russia is a flagrant violation, an egregious violation of international norms," spokesman Josh Earnest said. "And it's not a violation that the United States is prepared to tolerate."

Comment: The US bitches and moans about Crimea, but it hasn't really gained enough momentum nor legitimate leverage to effect its return to Ukraine. Instead, it is utilizing the "bad (inaccurate) publicity" to shape perceptions about Russia and its imagined intentions, fear-mongering NATO members into towing the US line and feeding its unilateral agenda.

See also: Trump: Will look into recognizing Crimea, lifting sanctions

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Attention

Syria says latest US-led coalition airstrikes killed 45 civilians near Manbij


RT
Fri, 29 Jul 2016 18:56 UTC
Manjib
Syria has appealed to the UN claiming that 45 civilians were killed and 50 injured in US-led coalition airstrikes outside the city of Manjib near Aleppo on Thursday.

Comment: See also: Death-lite: US CENTCOM to probe civilian deaths in Manbij strike, publishes 'confirmed' 2015 toll

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Heart - Black

Syrian militants blocking civilians from leaving Aleppo through Russia-created humanitarian corridor


RT
Fri, 29 Jul 2016 18:18 UTC
aleppo residents
© Ruptly
Residents of the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo rushed for long-awaited supplies of food and essentials on Friday, as the Russian military opened three humanitarian corridors for civilians and militants who had agreed to lay down their arms.

However the governor of Aleppo province Mohammad Marwan Olabi has told the SANA news agency that militants are blocking several dozen families from leaving the eastern areas of the city.

Three passages for people to move from the besieged part of the city to safe areas opened on Thursday.

Local residents have confirmed that it is the rebels that prevent civilians from leaving the city, despite the Syrian government's efforts to help them do so.
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USA

Media blackouts, rigged elections and leaked emails - Welcome to American-style democracy


RT
Fri, 29 Jul 2016 17:44 UTC
hillary protests
© Dominick Reuter / Reuters
Activists hold a banner against Hillary Clinton amid protest outside the Wells Fargo Center on the final day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., July 28, 2016
The United States, which espouses democracy and has invaded countries in the name of democracy, is far from the perfect democratic state with fair elections, says Carla Howell, political director of the Libertarian Party.

Hillary Clinton has marked a place for herself in the history books after officially accepting the Democratic nomination for president on Tuesday. She becomes the first female candidate to represent a major US party in the presidential elections.

Outside the Democratic National Convention demonstrators have been protesting against Clinton's nomination for a fourth day in a row. Protesters showed their support for Clinton's former rival, Senator Bernie Sanders, lashing out at the party's decision to go with Clinton.

Chanting "we won't vote for Hillary," some even vowed to quit the Democratic Party. There have also been claims the media has turned a blind eye to the large demonstrations.
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Pistol

Death-lite: US CENTCOM to probe civilian deaths in Manbij strike, publishes 'confirmed' 2015 toll


RT
Fri, 29 Jul 2016 00:36 UTC
Manbij Syria
© airwars.org
Manbij, Syria, assault on civilians.
US Central Command is looking into new claims that US-led coalition air strikes recently killed civilians in Syria's Manbij, where Damascus says more than 120 non-combatants died. It also published a 10-month civilian body count, listing 14 deaths.

The latest CENTCOM statement quoted by Reuters and Guardian reporter Spencer Ackerman says that the military is investigating reports that civilians were killed in a Thursday airstrike in Manbij. The announcement comes a day after a formal investigation into the July 19 coalition bombing, in which dozens of civilians allegedly perished, was finally opened by the Pentagon after it decided "the information was credible enough to warrant a formal investigation."

Earlier in the day, CENTCOM released "results of several civilian casualty assessments," which confirmed civilian casualties had taken place in six separate US airstrikes in Iraq and Syria. The data covered the period from July 28, 2015 to April 29, 2016 and did not include an assessment of the Manbij incident.

The US military said 14 civilians were killed in total, and another was injured in the incidents described. "We deeply regret the unintentional loss of life and injuries resulting from our airstrikes and express our sympathies to those affected," the statement said.

According to the Syrian government, however, more than 120 civilians, including at least 44 children, were killed in last week's US-led coalition bombing of Manbij alone. Estimates from several human rights groups varied between 74 and 203 civilians dead. Meanwhile, US military spokesman Army Colonel Christopher Garver said that he has seen figures indicating around 10 to 15 civilian deaths.

Comment: If the military has a problem publishing accurate numbers of civilian casualties who died at their hand...don't kill innocent people. Instead, the military has a problem with killing militant rebel extremists...but no problem reporting inflated tolls.

See also: Churkin: Reported deadly bombing in Manbij, Syria, US completely silent

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Fire

Blowing up in their faces: NATO rep among 3 dead in Ukraine rocket facility blast


RT
Fri, 29 Jul 2016 03:08 UTC
old rockets
© Igor Maslov /Sputnik
A NATO representative was among three killed when a missile exploded at a defense facility in northeastern Ukraine, according to reports citing a local prosecutor. The explosion allegedly occurred while soon-to-be-disposed weapons were being unloading.

"The explosion killed three people, two of them test engineers and one NATO representative. Two other facility employees are in critical condition," the prosecutor's office of Sumy Region said, TASS reported, citing local media.

Several Kh-27 rocket warheads detonated at the facility, where they had been brought for disposal.

A prosecutor's office in central Ukraine said earlier that the explosion occurred on the premises of a testing facility that belonged to Ukroboronprom, a Ukrainian defense industry company.

Comment: And what the heck is a NATO rep even doing in Ukraine, anyway? Ukraine is not even a part of NATO. Oh yeah -- the U.S.-led war against Donbass... and Russia.

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Jet4

Former German politician: US and Saudi Arabia involved in downing of Russian Su-24 bomber in Syria


Sputnik
Fri, 29 Jul 2016 17:39 UTC
russian bombers
© Sputnik/ Ramil Sitdikov
German former CDU politician and Vice-President of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Willy Wimmer told Sputnik Deutschland that he fears NATO involvement in the downing of Russia's Su-24 bomber over Syria last November.

NATO was involved in last year's downing of Russia's Su-24 bomber in Syrian airspace, Willy Wimmer, former Vice-President of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), told Sputnik Deutschland on Friday.

On November 24 2015 Turkish jets downed a Russian Su-24 bomber carrying out anti-terror operations in Syria. The plane's two co-pilots parachuted from the plane but one of them, Lieutenant Colonel Oleg Peshkov, was shot and killed by suspected Turkmen militants operating in Syria.

The incident caused a major diplomatic dispute between Turkey and Russia; the former said the bomber was shot for infringing Turkish airspace, but Russia maintains the Su-24 did not enter Turkish airspace, and was carrying out an anti-Daesh mission in Syria when it was downed.
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Pistol

Firearms used on only 7 occasions by British police in the past year


RT
Fri, 29 Jul 2016 10:34 UTC
Coppers
© Neil Hall / Reuters
Official records show British firearms police collectively only discharged their weapons on seven occasions in the space of 12 months. The news comes as it emerged armed police numbers have seriously dwindled under Tory rule despite the 'severe' terrorism threat.

Figures released by the Home Office on Thursday cover the year ending in March 2016 and show that the rate of discharges. Despite appearing to be incredibly low in comparison to the US, the figures are actually a record high in recent years.

From the year ending in March 2013 weapons were only used three times while in the same 12 month period ending in 2015 there were only six occasions that firearms were used.
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Light Saber

If Ankara finds out U.S. was involved in coup attempt Turkey may leave NATO


Sputnik
Thu, 28 Jul 2016 21:54 UTC
Turkey coup foiled
© Reuters/Baz Ratner
German political scientist Alexander Rahr believes that if it is revealed that Washington was involved in the failed Turkish coup attempt, Ankara may very well leave NATO and join Chinese and Russian-led security and economic organizations instead.

Earlier this month, elements of the Turkish military attempted to carry out a coup against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ruling Justice and Development Party. Since then, speculation has emerged that the coup may have been orchestrated by followers of Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish billionaire preacher who is in self-imposed exile in the United States.

Speaking at an expert panel organized by the Rossiya Segodnya news agency on Thursday, German political scientist Alexander Rahr suggested that if some foreign power is proven to have been involved in the attempt to overthrow the Turkish government, Ankara will be forced to radically reconsider its geopolitical alignment.

Comment: Ankara already knows who was behind the attempted coup, but may have a difficult time "proving" it. And even if they do, who are they going to prove it to - who doesn't already know and is actually in a position to change the Western strategy now set against Ankara?

All Turkey can now sensibly do is to align itself further with Russia, Iran, China and others who can see and are willing to fight against NATO/U.S. forces. And as they do, they must proceed very cautiously.

See also:

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SOTT Logo

SOTT Exclusive: The Russians did it: Embarrassing DNC leak covered up with more outlandish Russia accusations

Paul Mansfield
Sott.net
Thu, 28 Jul 2016 22:33 UTC
putin

World's most dangerous hacker, best friend of Donald Trump, richest man on the planet, secret love child of Hitler, secret love child of Stalin, VLAD the Imperiler.
The US media has gone into full meltdown over the latest episode of blaming everything you can think of on Russia, with Doctor Evil himself, Vladimir Putin, reaching into his bag of tricks, hacking the Democratic National Committee database and preparing to install his puppet Donald Trump in the White House.

The scandal uncovered in the DNC email leaks is truly monumental. However, it risks being buried by the diversionary tactic of constructing a foolproof propaganda line of Russian state hacking, a manufactured "scandal" that can then be used to justify extending anti-Russia sanctions, continue the military build-up on Russia's borders and pressure hesitant countries into compliance. This is the real motive - exerting unwarranted U.S. influence on foreign states - not the mythology of Russian bullying and coercion.

Hillary Clinton and her hangers-on in the Democrats have been caught red-handed with their hands in the cookie jar. The corruption, dirty tricks and game-rigging to make sure corporate America, Wall Street and the Pentagon's candidate of choice, Hillary Clinton, became the Democratic nominee for the presidential election are almost embarrassing to watch.
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