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Obama goes full blown nutter in ABC News interview


Sputnik
Mon, 16 Nov 2015 13:39 UTC
Obama ABC interview
© The White House
In an interview for ABC News, President Barack Obama suggested that sooner or later, Russia will wise up and join the US-led anti-ISIL camp in Syria. Moreover, again emphasizing the need to remove Syrian President Bashar Assad from power, the president noted that he would try to convince his Russian counterpart to that effect over the next year.

The interview airing Friday, has already become the subject of a scandal, with commentators attacking the president for his suggestion that ISIL had been "contained" just hours ahead of the deadly terror attacks in Paris.

In the same interview, asked by his interviewer about whether "Vladimir Putin will start to take [ISIL] on," (an odd question, given that Russia has been bombing ISIL positions for a month and a half), Obama offered an equally strange response.

Starting off by noting that he sincerely believes that "Putin...from the start has been sincere in seeing ISIL as a threat," the president turned around and contradicted himself in the same breath, suggesting that "the reason he went into Syria is not primarily because of ISIL, but to prop up Assad."

Comment: Since when do the majority of Syrians reject Assad? Assad received 88.7% of the Syrian vote, with no violations being reported, and with a voter turnout over 74% when he was re-elected just last June. What Western leader can say the same of their elections? His statements about the Russian campaign in Syria are equally delusional. Russia is showing the world what a genuine coalition against terror looks like. The US is up in arms because their "war on terror" is being exposed as a war for terror, and Obama is the one living in an illegitimate reality constructed out of thin air.

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Eye 2

Battle for the mind: Terrorists deliberately targeted the 'everyday life' of ordinary Parisians


Sputnik
Mon, 16 Nov 2015 12:38 UTC
France Paris terror attacks
© REUTERS/ Vincent Kessler
The six places in Paris targeted by terrorists were chosen in a deliberate attack on the everyday life of ordinary Parisians, reports the French press.

The targets chosen by the Islamic State were not famous landmarks visited by tourists, but bars, restaurants, a concert hall and stadium frequented by ordinary Parisians, in an attempt to bring chaos and fear to ordinary life.

In its statement of responsibility, the Islamic State described Paris as "the capital of abominations and perversions," leading the organization to attack the place where the city's residents go to enjoy themselves, wrote French newspaper 20minutes.

Comment: These attacks were designed to inflict as much trauma and division in Europe as possible. Ignoring the terrorizing effects, the mainstream media will continue to spin this event into the need to sacrifice more freedoms, to inflict more pain and suffering on others, and probably to begin to take seriously the 'Migrant question'. In other words, they'll fertilize the seeds of hate and trauma that have been planted. This is where the individual's need for maintaining good psychic hygiene, by gathering objective information, become the most important part of a real healing process.

Read more: And:
The attacks were a brilliantly coordinated act of war. They were a brilliantly coordinated act of pure terrorism, beyond rhyme but not beyond reason. They struck at the most cosmopolitan parts of the most cosmopolitan city in the world. They struck out at assorted sectors of western popular culture. They struck out at sports, at pop music, and at simple casual dining. They struck out at an ordinary Friday night's entertainment. The attacks were a brilliantly coordinated statement of political and social purpose, its intent clear and unmistakable. The attacks were a brilliantly coordinated act of fanatical ideological and theological Puritanism, brewed up in the dark precincts of another of mankind's monotheisms. They were not the first of these. (The closest parallel to what happened in Paris is what happened in Mumbai in 2008. In fact, Mumbai went on alert almost immediately after the news broke.) They, alas, are likely not going to be the last.

There is only one way to defeat ISIS: Follow the money


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Info

Iraq: Al-Baghdadi ordered attacks on anti-ISIS coalition countries, France warned day before Paris attacks


RT
Mon, 16 Nov 2015 13:50 UTC
paris attacks
© Pascal Rossignol / Reuters
Bullet impacts are seen in the window of a restaurant window the day after a series of deadly attacks in Paris , November 14, 2015.
A dispatch sent by Iraqi officials and obtained by AP shows that Baghdad warned members of the US-led coalition battling ISIS of imminent attacks by the group just one day before the Paris terror attacks killed 129 people and wounded 352 others.

Iraqi intelligence sent a dispatch saying that Islamic State (formerly ISIS/ISIL) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had ordered an attack on coalition countries fighting against the group in Iraq and Syria, as well as on Iran and Russia, through bombings or other attacks, according to the message.

"We have recovered information from our direct sources in the Islamic State terrorist organization about the orders issued by terrorist 'Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi' directing all members of the organization to implement an international attack that includes all coalition countries, in addition to Iran and the Russian Federation, through bombings or assassinations or hostage taking in the coming days. We do not have information on the date and place for implementing these terrorist operations at this time," the dispatch read.

Comment: Additionally, Turkey is saying it warned France twice (in December 2014 and June 2015) about Omar Ismal Mostefai, one of Bataclan shooter/bombers, alleged to have gone to Syria in 2013. Turkey said they recorded him entering Turkey in 2013, but had no record of him leaving. It was only after the Paris attacks that France sent an information request to Turkey on Mostefai.

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Bad Guys

French authorities expect more terror attacks - vow 'merciless' response


Sputnik
Mon, 16 Nov 2015 12:52 UTC
Image
© AP Photo/ Peter Dejong
Francois Richier, the French ambassador in India, said that France expanded its cooperation with EU authorities and Belgium in particular where several of the suspected attackers had their residence.

France is aware of the potential for continued terrorist attacks in Europe and is doing everything possible to increase security around likely targets, working together with EU authorities to ready an effective response to terrorist activity, the French ambassador in India said Monday.

"We expect possibility of more attacks on European soil," Ambassador Francois Richier told reporters. "This war is going to be long, going to be difficult and is going to be global."

Comment: Will there come a day when acts of terror no longer lead to 'long, difficult, and global' wars, when the people demand actual investigations into who's responsible, and then demand a just punishment instead of carpet bombing the world?

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Bizarro Earth

Pepe Escobar: And here's the top ten terrorist list

Pepe Escobar
Asia Times
Fri, 13 Nov 2015 01:36 UTC
Image
They might as well have hauled David Letterman from retirement to do it.

Episode two of the Vienna charade - sorry, the Syrian peace talks - this Saturday comes with a show biz package; all 20 players on the table are supposed to come up with a definitive Syria terrorist list. As in who gets a seat to talk about prospective Syria unity in the future, and who qualifies for being bombed.

This is inbuilt - Chinese box-style - in a truly surrealist ploy; a purported Syria peace plan that should include a ceasefire between Damascus and some "opposition groups." As if ISIS/ISIL/Daesh goon squads would respect any ceasefire.

So imagine the frenzy at that Viennese table. One man's jihadi is another man's "freedom fighter." Not to mention that according to the Beltway ethos, anyone subscribing to "Assad must go" is a "moderate rebel."

The usual suspects - US, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar - have unsurprisingly pre-empted the move, fiercely defending their (moderate) Rebels With a Cause. These are the ones that would respect democratic elections in Syria; respect other religious groups; would be willing to negotiate with anybody; would respect a ceasefire, de-weaponize and abide by the political transition; and would never engage in global jihad. All of the above, of course, if you take them at face value.

Sultan Erdogan, "moderate rebel" pin-up

Turkish Sultan Erdogan is the undisputed protector saint of "moderate rebels." So let's see how some outfits praised his recent electoral landslide.

What passes for the Free Syrian Army (FSA) sent congratulations. Same for Khaled Khoja, chairman of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces.

Comment: Pepe, once again, points out the ridiculousness of this charade.

Syria: US-Turkey "Buffer Zone" to save ISIS, not stop them

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Dollars

Netanyahu whines: "Obama, Obama...give Israel more US tax dollars."

Bob Johnson
Veterans Today
Fri, 13 Nov 2015 00:00 UTC
israel taxes US check
When Israel's Prime Minister met with Barack Obama on Monday, Netanyahu told Obama that Israel needs more than the $3.1 BILLION for military aid US politicians take from Americans and give to the Jewish state. Netanyahu wants it increased to over $5 BILLION.

Netanyahu's twisted thinking was made evident in his speech to the powerful neoconservative organization the American Enterprise Institute. Netanyahu said: "The United States supports Israel to the tune of 3 billion [dollars] a year. You spent on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq a trillion and half. So that's five centuries' worth of support for Israel."

This makes very clear what fools Netanyahu, Israel and their US politicians play Americans for. The reason US politicians from both parties started the war against Iraq was for Israel's security. It wasn't started and fought because Iraq was a threat to the US, or, as covered in the military oath, a threat to the US Constitution.

The war against Iraq was started by US politicians who wanted to win favor with the powerful Israel lobby. That is why all those people died and were wounded and left homeless. Israel and its lobby wanted the war, US politicians gave them the war and American military people fought the war for Israel and the politicians.

Netanyahu's numbers on how much the Iraq war is costing the US are way off. A study done by academics and experts put the figure at $2 TRILLION.

Comment: $5B? Well, in a speculative list of how he would spend the extra money, we can scratch out Bibi buying the Golan Heights or the Gaza Strip from its real owners...(never considered)...nor righting the heinous wrongs he continues to perpetrate on the Palestinians...(not entered his mind)....how about buying the US Congress with American paychecks and throwing in a war with Iran. Folks, it seems we have a winner.

FYI: In addition to the $3.7T cost of the wars, the cost to benefits owed American war veterans (on Israel's behalf) may exceed $6T over the next four decades. Don't suppose Bibi wants to reimburse the US or take any responsibility for the 329,000 deaths that occurred in Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan? What did the US gain from the wars? A whopping deficit, a martyr-victim complex and a really, really bad exceptionalism habit.

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Dollars

There is only one way to defeat ISIS: Follow the money

Charles P. Pierce
Esquire
Sat, 14 Nov 2015 22:26 UTC
Paris terrorist attack
© Getty and Martin Bureau
There was a strange stillness in the news on Saturday morning, a Saturday morning that came earlier in Paris than it did in Des Moines, a city in Iowa, one of the United States of America. The body count had stabilized. The new information came at a slow, stately pace, as though life were rearranging itself out of quiet respect for the dead. The new information came at a slow and stately pace and it arranged itself in the way that you suspected it would arrange itself when the first accounts of the mass murder began to spread out over the wired world. There has been the predictable howling from predictable people. (Judith Miller? Really? This is an opinion the world needed to hear?) There has been the straining to wedge the events of Friday night into the Procrustean nonsense of an American presidential campaign. There will be a debate among the three Democratic candidates for president in Des Moines on Saturday night. I suspect that the moderators had to toss out a whole raft of questions they already had prepared. Everything else is a distraction. It is the stately, stillness of the news itself that matters.

Comment: And Putin plans on doing just that: Putin to pursue sponsors of terrorism
Today took place the meeting between the head of the presidential administration, Sergey Ivanov, and the head of an international organization which is engaged in the fight against money laundering, Shin Jae Young. The main topic of discussion was the problem of the financing of terrorism, and primarily, the terrorist organization ISIL. ... Read carefully what was said today by Sergey Ivanov:
"At the initiative of the United States of America and the Russian Federation, a study has been conducted on the sources of ISIS' financing. It would be nice if such a study was not the final point of collaboration, but was, on the contrary, the impetus for further and practical actions to identify particular States, individuals and legal entities engaged in the financing of ISIL."
In fact, the money trail just so happens to lead back to the US: History of Western involvement with the Mercenary armies destroying the Middle East

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Black Cat

Israel shares intel with France in terror fight according to Bibi (but apparently not in time)

Raphael Ahren
Times of Israel
Sun, 15 Nov 2015 21:38 UTC
Netanyhu
© Hadas Parush/Flash90
Bibi at least had the grace not to gloat at France's pain. 9/11 not so much.
We aren't a marginal player' in terror war, PM says, calling on those who condemn Paris attacks to also denounce terror against Israel

Israel is sharing intelligence about Islamic State and other terrorist groups with its allies, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday in his first public comments on the massive terror attacks that rocked Paris on Friday night.

"Israel possesses intelligence; we aren't a marginal player in this field, and the information we have we share with France and with other relevant countries, not just since yesterday," he said. "This is an important part of cooperation against the terrorism of IS and the terrorism of radical Islam in general."


Comment: Hell's bells! If they're that big a player, why is it that Israel had nothing of value to pass on to France, even if only the 'chatter' so beloved by intelligence agencies?


Israel cooperates with other countries in "various ways," the prime minister said, adding that he could not elaborate in public.

Comment: Bibi has learned to dissimulate a little better in the last decade or so. His reaction to 9/11 was much more bare-faced.

How The New York Times reported it:
Asked tonight what the attack meant for relations between the United States and Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, the former prime minister, replied, "It's very good." Then he edited himself: "Well, not very good, but it will generate immediate sympathy." He predicted that the attack would "strengthen the bond between our two peoples, because we've experienced terror over so many decades, but the United States has now experienced a massive hemorrhaging of terror."


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Gear

How did 'Belgium' become a terrorism hotbed? (Clue: NATO is based there)

Nadette De Visser
The Daily Beast
Sun, 15 Nov 2015 21:43 UTC
Paris terrorist
© Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast
For the past year, terrorist plot after terrorist plot has been tied back to Belgium. How did this tiny nation become ground zero?

As the race to uncover how terrorists managed to complete their devastating attacks in Paris on Friday November 13 unfolds, the focus has once again shifted to France's tiny neighbor, Belgium.

Today the Belgian authorities announced two of the identified terrorists involved in the Paris attacks were French citizens living in Belgium. "There is a link to Molenbeek (A central Brussels multi-ethnic neighborhood)," Belgian Prime minister Charles Michel said. "We are focused on prevention but we need to act repressively too." An international arrest warrant was also issued on Sunday for Belgian-born Abdeslam Salah, 26, in connection with Friday's attack.

Comment: The only way in which 'Belgium' is a 'terrorist hotbed' is because NATO's large derriere is parked there, from where, no doubt, the real terror operations in Europe are planned and executed.

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Radar

Bam Bam pretends at diplomacy: Obama and Putin meet and agree for need of UN-brokered Syria talks


Sputnik
Sun, 15 Nov 2015 19:10 UTC
Image
© AP/Cem Oksuz/Anadolu Agency
Oh to be a fly on the wall for that conversation!
"President Obama and President Putin of Russia held a constructive discussion on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Antalya, Turkey," the White House said Sunday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Barack Obama agreed on the need for a ceasefire in Syria and UN-brokered talks between the conflicting parties, the White House said Sunday.

Earlier today, the two presidents held informal talks on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Turkey's Antalya.

Comment: Sadly, this meeting and discussion will, in all likelihood, come to naught for a few reasons:

1. Obama is a consummate liar - which is the reason why he was selected as President of the U.S. (Putin on the other hand, is as usual attempting to exhaust every diplomatic avenue at his disposal in the hopes of staving off or possibly preventing much greater disaster from occurring).

2. Whatever "constructive" utterances Obama did make at the meeting with Putin, the other lackeys for Empire have been contradicting in their various speeches and congressional hearings.

3. The U.S.'s actions (in addition to its words) indicate that it has no intention of letting up in its pursuit of ousting Assad and assuming control of Syria by proxy.

Yes, the situation we are witnessing now on the global stage is that bad.

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