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Pentagon accuses Turkey's operations not directed at Islamic State


RT
Wed, 02 Dec 2015 12:59 UTC
Turkish soldiers
© Murad Sezer / Reuters
The US says Turkey's operations are not "directed" at Islamic State and the Pentagon would like Ankara "to do more" both in the air and on the ground. It has also failed to control its borders "effectively," Secretary of Defense Ash Carter told Congress.

"I have been urging, actually, since I've come to this job, Turkey to do more," the US defense chief said.

Carter stressed that Turkey's geography - "right there next to Iraq and Syria" - makes it an especially useful asset to the US-led mission against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), but its NATO ally has failed to pull its weight so far.

"Most of their air operations are not directed at ISIL," Carter said. "They are directed at the PKK, which we understand their concern about — it's a terrorist organization within their borders — but we would like to see them do more against ISIL."

Comment: It seems Turkey was doing its job too well supporting Islamic State and now that the light has been shed on this, it's time to pretend to shift the focus away. The US is joining the chorus of blaming Turkey.

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Info

Russia will prepare to boost combat readiness if Montenegro joins NATO


Sputnik
Wed, 02 Dec 2015 12:45 UTC
Russian ship
© Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation
Russia will take further steps in boosting its military capabilities and combat readiness if Montenegro joins NATO, Russia's deputy chairman for the Federation Council's Committee on Defense and Security said Wednesday.

"Russia will take further measures in strengthening its military capabilities and combat readiness of our country and concrete measures are being prepared by the General Staff," Russian senator Evgeny Serebrennikov said.

"The continued eastward expansion of NATO and NATO's military infrastructure cannot but result in retaliatory actions from the east, i.e. from the Russian side, in terms of ensuring security and supporting the parity of interests," Mr. Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Earlier on Wednesday, Montenegro was invited to join NATO and now the 28 members of the alliance will need to ratify the invitation in their parliaments, which could take more than a year.

Comment: This tiny nation sure is garnering a lot of attention with this NATO eastern expansion into the Balkans. Besides Montenegro and Georgia, the other current candidates for NATO membership are Bosnia, Herzegovina and Macedonia.

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Snakes in Suits

Montenegro NATO membership at odds with 'real' interests of Montenegrins


Sputnik
Wed, 02 Dec 2015 12:29 UTC
Montenegro protests
© AP Photo/ Risto Bozovic
Montenegro's NATO accession contradicts the interests of the country's citizens, a spokesperson for the Socialist People's Party of Montenegro told Sputnik on Wednesday.

Earlier on Wednesday, NATO member states accepted Podgorica's bid to join the alliance and invited the country to begin accession negotiations.

"Obviously it is a political project, not in the real interests of the citizens of Montenegro," the representative for the country's second largest opposition party said.

Comment: Unfortunately it is never about what the people want. NATO's goal of encircling Russia is more important.

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Bulb

Sarkozy: The EU must not lead Turkey into thinking it can join Europe


Sputnik
Wed, 02 Dec 2015 12:05 UTC
Sarkozy
© AFP 2015/ Charly Triballeau
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy said that it is a mistake to lead Turkey into believing that it can join Europe. Turkey must not join the European Union, and should not be led to believe that they could, in their current governmental form, become a member of the bloc, former French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Wednesday.
"It is a mistake to lead Turkey into believing that it can join Europe. We must have close relations with Turkey, common interests with Turkey. But it should not be a member of the European Union," Sarkozy told the Europe 1 radio broadcaster.
Turkey has recently resumed efforts for accession to the EU, with Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu attending an EU-Turkey summit on Sunday in Brussels. The summit will continue ongoing negotiations on Turkey's EU accession. Turkey signed an association agreement with the bloc in 1963, and submitted a membership application in 1987. Talks began in 2005, with 14 of 35 necessary conditions for accession fulfilled so far by Ankara. The Cyprus dispute and Turkey's record of denying press freedoms are among major issues currently unresolved, and known to be obstructing Turkey's accession.

Comment: The EU has painted itself into a corner by being the slavish political arm of NATO and more specifically being a vassal to the United States. Turkish membership in the EU will not bode well for Europe, not that it has a promising future in any case. But you know things are bad when a stooge such as Sarkozy is trying to talk sense to the EU leadership.

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X

Iraqi Prime Minister: US ground forces not welcome in Iraq


Sputnik
Wed, 02 Dec 2015 11:45 UTC
Iraq US troop
© Flickr/ The U.S. army
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has ruled out supporting the deployment of US ground forces in the country to fight against jihadist groups like Daesh, also known as ISIL, saying that while Iraq welcomes US training and support, it doesn't need combat troops in the country.

"We do not need foreign ground combat forces on Iraqi land," Abadi said in a statement, which comes after Washington hinted that it plans to extend anti-Daesh military operations on the ground in both Iraq and Syria.

US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter announced that the US would deploy a special expeditionary force to Iraq, and hinted that ground forces could be sent to Syria to assist in the international fight against Daesh. The US already has an estimated 3,500 troops in Iraq to "train and advise" local forces, with officials in Washington explicitly saying that American troops would not take part in active combat.

Comment: Of course Iraq doesn't want the United States' pro-terrorist forces destroying more of their country. The U.S. is losing its foothold and influence in the region as it rightfully deserves.

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Chess

Assad: Erdogan's failure will be his demise


Press TV
Tue, 01 Dec 2015 01:39 UTC
Assad
© AFP
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says Turkey downed a Russian jet over Syria because Moscow has turned the tide against foreign-sponsored militants in the Arab country.

The downing of the warplane "has shown the real intention of [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan who, let's say, lost his nerve just because the Russian intervention has changed the balance on the ground," said Assad during an interview with the Czech Television channel broadcast on Tuesday.

Russia began airstrikes on Daesh positions in Syria on September 30 at the request of the Syrian government. On November 24, Turkey shot down the Russian Su-24 bomber, which it claimed had entered its airspace - an allegation Russia strongly rejects.

The "failure" of Erdogan's "terrorist groups means his political demise," he added in the interview which was conducted in the Syrian capital Damascus. Assad also said that peace would only return to Syria when "France, the UK, the US, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and some others stop supporting terrorists."

Comment: See also:
Majority of EU leaders see Assad as instrumental in reaching peaceful resolution in Syria

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Bad Guys

No duh! 'US has not contained ISIS' says Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman in contradiction to Obama's reassurances


PressTV
Wed, 02 Dec 2015 03:21 UTC
General Joseph F. Dunford
© Agence France-Presse/Brendan Smialowski
US Marine General Joseph F. Dunford
A top military officer says the US has "not contained" the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group in Iraq and Syria, despite what President Barack Obama had said. US Marine General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Tuesday, "We have not contained ISIL," contradicting Obama's reassuring remarks to ABC News last month just before the terrorist attacks in Paris.

General Dunford added that the Daesh Takfiris have been "tactically" contained in areas in Iraq and Syria since 2010, but "strategically, they have spread since 2010." He was giving testimony alongside Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, who announced that the US would expand its special operations force in Iraq and Syria to help fight ISIL.

Obama, who is in Paris for talks on an international climate change agreement, has also used the trip to meet with world leaders about the threat from Daesh stating that, "In some ways, [climate change] is akin to the problem of terrorism and ISIL."

Comment: ISIS hasn't been contained by the United States because the use of terrorism is part and parcel to their geopolitical aims in the Middle East. In other words the US has a vested interest in not only NOT containing ISIS but in maintaining their power.

See:

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Bullseye

"Humanitarian Imperialism": The deception of human rights in geopolitics from the 'new left'

Jean Bricmont
Counterpunch
Fri, 27 Nov 2015 02:29 UTC
United Nations
© Reuters
Interview with distinguished Belgian Scholar Jean Bricmont

Àngel Ferrero: It has been 10 years since Humanitarian Imperialism appeared in Spanish. What made you write the book?

It started as a reaction to the attitude of the Left during the 1999 Kosovo war, which was largely accepted on humanitarian grounds and to the rather weak opposition of the peace movement before the 2003 invasion of Iraq: for example, many "pacifists" have accepted the policy of sanctions at the time of the 1991 first Gulf war and even after it, and were favorable to inspections in the run-up to the war, without realizing that this was just a maneuver to prepare the public to accept the war (this became even public knowledge through later leaks, like the Downing Street memos).

It seemed to me that the ideology of humanitarian intervention had totally destroyed, on the left, any notion of respect for international law, as well as any critical attitude with respect to the media.

Àngel Ferrero: What do you think it has changed in this last 10 years?

A lot of things have changed, although, I am afraid, not because of my book. It is rather reality that has asserted itself, first with the chaos in Iraq, then in Libya and now in Syria and Ukraine, leading to the refugee crisis and a near state of war with Russia, which would not be a "cakewalk".

The humanitarian imperialists are still busy pushing us towards more wars, but there is now a substantial fraction of public opinion that is against such policies; that fraction is probably more important on the right than on the left.
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Attention

Asset confiscation - Greek's must declare all assets like jewelry and cash 'under mattresses!


Keep Talking Greece
Tue, 01 Dec 2015 02:44 UTC
Cash Under Mattress
© Sgtreport.com
Cash 'under the mattress' totaling more than 15,000 euro, jewelry and other valuable items such as diamonds and gemstones, should be declared to electronic system of tax authorities, Taxisnet, as of 1. January 2016.

Next to properties and vehicles and shares, now the taxpayers will also have to declare their deposits. And not only that. They will have to fill if they rent bank lockers and if yes, also the name of the bank and the branch, even if abroad.

A joint ministerial decision issued by the Ministries of Justice and Finance indicates that taxpayers in Greece should add all their valuables into a new category of the tax declaration, the "Assets declaration."

Specifically, the decision provides that:
  • "Assets declarations" are submitted electronically and mandatory via Taxisnet.
  • Starting date for the submission is 1.1.2016
Declared must be cash money if more than 15,000 euro and precious items if their total value exceeds 30,000 euro. These amounts apply cumulatively per household (husband, wife, underage children).

To facilitate the completion of the declaration, data from the income statements (E1 and E9) will be drawn automatically.

Note that this Assets declaration process will initially apply to lawmakers, journalists, public servants etc and is the rehearsal for the creation of the electronic property & assets register that will be extended to all taxpayers.

The new assets declaration form has a total of 56 pages. The decision has been taken "in the context of support and development of the economy," the ministers state.
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Jet3

Libyan warplanes now targeting Daesh Takfiris


Press TV
Wed, 02 Dec 2015 12:03 UTC
Libya warplane
© worldmaritimenews.com
Libyan warplane
Libyan warplanes have bombarded positions belonging to the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group, which has been trying to expand its territories towards oilfields in the eastern parts of country.

On Tuesday, fighter jets of Libya's internationally recognized government hit a "house in an industrial area south of Ajdabiya" city, where the terrorists were holding a meeting, AFP reported, citing an unnamed senior officer. The airborne attack, preceded by other such raids last week, was part of a anti-terror campaign aimed at preventing militants from taking the city, which is currently in the hands of fighters loyal to the government, the officer added.

Daesh terrorists, who currently control the northern city of Sirte, are fighting both government forces and other rival factions that control the embattled city of Benghazi, located in the east of the country.
Daesh
© APF
Daesh terrorists in Libya, 2015
Meanwhile, a United Nations report said that the terror group was eager to reach and capture oil installations in Libya, but it lacked the capacity to take, hold and manage oilfields or refineries in the country. The report added that Daesh "is only one player among multiple warring factions in Libya and faces strong resistance from the population as well as difficulties in building and maintaining local alliances."

The Daesh terrorists, who were initially trained by the CIA in Jordan in 2012 to destabilize the Syrian government, now control parts of Syria and Iraq. They have been engaged in crimes against humanity in the areas under their control. The terror group exploited the chaos in Libya and tries to advance its terror agenda in the northern African country.

Comment: Ever since the US destabilized Libya and killed Gaddafi, Libya has a long list of rebel factions vying for territory and control as well as two governments doing the same. While it is a war zone less heard about, the destruction and destabilization of its culture, population and economy is ongoing and overwhelming. Thanks to the US...again.

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