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Turkey holds NATO hostage until Syria-related demands are met

Sarah Abed
infobrics.org
Thu, 28 Nov 2019 12:00 UTC
NATO
NATO is in a state of division and instability with the US, Turkey, and France at odds, providing President Trump with the perfect opportunity to pull out of both NATO and the UN.

Next week NATO will be holding its 70th anniversary summit in London. Just days before, Turkey is renewing its demand for NATO support for its military operations in northern Syria as well as the formal recognition of the Kurdish YPG as a terrorist organization in exchange for its support. Without these concessions, Turkey is refusing to back a NATO defense plan for the Baltics and Poland.

Without Turkey's formal approval NATO will have a difficult time expediting its defense plan for Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland. Because the two issues are not directly related, some believe Turkey is holding Europeans hostage until they comply with their demands. Not only is Turkey the only Islamic member of NATO but it has the second largest military in NATO granting NATO access to Georgia and Azerbaijan, which makes one wonder, who needs the other more, NATO or Turkey?

Comment: See also:

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Biohazard

Washington, the cesspool of the world, will never rat on itself

Paul Craig Roberts
paulcraigroberts.org
Mon, 25 Nov 2019 12:00 UTC
washington
© AP Photo / Susan Walsh
Former US Attorney Joe diGenova predicts that US Justice (sic) Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz's report on the Obama regime's FISA court violations and US Attorney John Durham's criminal investigation of the Russiagate hoax perpetrated by the CIA, FBI, Democratic National Committee, and presstitute media will be "very bad for people in the Obama administration. . . . it's going to be devastating . . . it's going to ruin careers."

For the sake of accountable government, I hope that Mr. diGenova is right. But I have my doubts. Cabinet departments and government agencies are not very good at investigating themselves. Attorney General Barr's job is to protect his department. He knows, and will be often told, that to bring indictments against Justice Department officials would discredit the Justice Department in the public's mind. It would affect the attitude of juries toward DOJ prosecutions. John Durham knows the same thing. He also knows that he will create a hostile environment for himself if he indicts DOJ officials and that when he joins a law firm to capitalize on his experience as a US Attorney, he will not receive the usual favors when he represents clients against DOJ charges. Horowitz knows that his job is to coverup or minimize any illegalities in order to protect the Department of Justice from scandals.

Comment: See also: Also check SOTT radio's Behind the Headlines: Babylon, Ancient Rome and the American Empire

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Network

Russia-UK trade & economic potential can overcome political rift - En+ chairman


RT
Thu, 28 Nov 2019 11:14 UTC
London Eye
© FILE PHOTO Pexels
While tensions between London and Moscow have been high in recent years, the benefits of economic cooperation between the two could help to overcome the political crisis, executive chairman of En+ Group, Greg Barker, has told RT.

"I think there is a lot of potential in the Russian market for UK companies and while the bilateral relationship between the two countries remains difficult, nevertheless trade is something very tangible that we can focus on as there both sides can make a really positive impact for good," Barker said in an interview on the sidelines of the annual Russian-British business forum in London.

The business event shows that both UK and Russian companies are seeking opportunities for cooperation, he stressed. Thus, British businesses can grow their footprint in markets outside Europe, which will be especially important after the looming Brexit, and Russian firms can find reliable European partners.

Comment: The UK's economy has been hobbling along for nigh on a decade (or more) sinking its citizens ever deeper into poverty meanwhile Russia's economy was recently described as "bulletproof", and so the UK continues its pitiful attempts at isolating Russia, and in effect its many partnerships, to its detriment.

See:

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Hiliter

Trump supports Hong Kong protesters by signing 'human rights' bill - 'out of respect for President Xi'


RT
Thu, 28 Nov 2019 00:01 UTC
Trump
© unknown
US President Donald Trump
President Donald Trump has approved legislation backing Hong Kong's 'pro-democracy' protest movement, disregarding Beijing's repeated warnings for Washington to mind its own business and stop meddling in China's internal affairs.

Dubbed the 'Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act,' the bill blazed through both houses of Congress earlier this month with virtually unanimous consent from lawmakers. In addition to threatening sanctions over human rights violations, the law requires the State Department to "certify" once a year whether Hong Kong enjoys sufficient "autonomy," though exactly how officials will quantify that remains unclear.


Beijing repeatedly warned Washington not to underestimate China's determination to defend its "sovereignty, security and development interests. If the US side insists on going down the wrong path, China will take strong countermeasures."

Comment: Perhaps President Trump and Congress should solve America's problems first. There are a plethora of choices. At least he was finally able to get himself and Congress on the same page...for someone else's country!

RT, 28/11/2019 Meddling damages relations, sends wrong signal to protesters
The government of Hong Kong said a bill recently signed into law by US President Donald Trump backing ongoing protests in the territory will only inflame the situation, and slammed Washington for meddling in the city's affairs.
Protester HK
© Reuters Laurel Chor
Hong Kong 'pro-democracy' protester throws a petrol bomb at police.
"The two bills are unreasonable," a spokesman said in a statement on Wednesday, adding that despite one of the laws being named after 'human rights' and 'democracy,' "in fact some of the provisions relate to export control and Hong Kong's implementation of United Nations sanctions."
HKpolice
© Reuters/Thomas Peter
Hong Kong police pass a burning barricade, November 2, 2019.
RT, 28/11/2019 Beijing: US interference unites Chinese against Washington
Beijing warned that continued US meddling in Hong Kong is "doomed to fail" and threatened "firm counter measures." Washington has "ignored facts" and "blatantly supported violent radicals who oppose the rule of law" in Hong Kong, the Foreign Ministry said on Thursday. "Such an attempt aims to damage the practice of 'one country, two systems,' and the path of Chinese national rejuvenation."
See also:

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Camcorder

Ex-CIA officer Phil Giraldi: US may opt to base surveillance tech in Bulgaria targeting Russia


Sputnik
Wed, 27 Nov 2019 03:16 UTC
Borissov/Trump
© Official WH photo/Shealah Craighead
Bulgarian President Boyko Borissov • US President Donald Trump
A new agreement between President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Boyko Borissov of Bulgaria will allow the US military to use the Balkan nation as a base for surveillance systems targeting Russia, former CIA officer Phil Giraldi shared on Tuesday.

"The advanced technologies would be surveillance technologies targeting Russia, which of course the Kremlin has figured out," Giraldi, a former US Army Intelligence officer and member of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), said.

The United States is eager to provide Bulgaria broader access to its high-end military technologies and eyes a ten-year road map for defence cooperation in the Black Sea region, Trump and Borissov said in a joint statement after meeting in Washington on Monday. The agreement confirmed Trump was piling pressure on Russia and seeking to surround and isolate it - in contrast to his expressed desire for good superpower relations, Giraldi said.

The agreement "demonstrated once again that if Donald Trump is [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's puppet, he is behaving in an odd way by constantly increasing the aggression against Moscow using NATO and other mechanisms", Giraldi said.

Comment: Surely the fallacy of these actions are obvious. Bulgaria has just increased its profile on both Russian and Turkish radar in exchange for dubious protection from the US and NATO.

See also:

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Snakes in Suits

Comments on monarchy's response to Prince Andrew sex scandal - Corbyn: 'Needs improvement'; Bojo: 'Beyond reproach'


RT
Wed, 20 Nov 2019 08:01 UTC
Debate Corbyn Bojo
© AFP/ITV/Jonathan Hordle
Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson (L) and Britain's Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn on the set of "Johnson v Corbyn: The ITV Debate" in Salford, north-west England.
There are still unanswered questions in the wake of a shocking sex scandal that purportedly involved Prince Andrew, Jeremy Corbyn has said, following a disastrous interview in which the Duke of York denied the serious allegations.

The Labour Party leader was pressed about his thoughts on the royal family, and Prince Andrew in particular, during a televised election debate with Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday.

Asked if Andrew was "fit for purpose," Corbyn argued that focus should be put on helping Jeffrey Epstein's victims, adding that there are "very, very serious questions that must be answered and nobody should be above the law." He also said that the British monarchy "needs a bit of improvement."

His Conservative opponent insisted that "the institution of the monarchy is beyond reproach," but stressed that "all his sympathies" were with the girls and women abused by Epstein and his cohorts. "The law must certainly take its course," Johnson noted.
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Rocket

Macron wants 'new' security architecture with Russia, rejects its offer of moratorium on short- and mid-range missiles


RT
Thu, 28 Nov 2019 11:53 UTC
Macron

French President Emmanuel Macron
While France does not accept a Russian-proposed moratorium on short- and intermediate-range missiles, it backs building "a new security architecture" together with Moscow, President Emmanuel Macron pledged.

Earlier in the day, the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Macron reached out to President Vladimir Putin, responding to the Russian proposal. "The reply wasn't detailed, of course. But at least, there is an understanding of [Russia's] concerns and readiness for dialogue on this matter," the official said.

In the meantime, the French leader urged NATO to have "robust and clear-headed" talks with Russia. Europe should strive for a new collective security system that would embrace Moscow, he opined. Macron had earlier championed mending the European Union's ties with Russia, warning against the "strategic error" of isolating the "deeply European" country.

The moratorium in question appeared in a letter the Kremlin sent out to several dozen countries in and outside NATO in September. The message, signed by Putin, said that Moscow will put a halt to the deployment of its own missiles in Europe as long as the US refrains from deploying their projectiles in the continent.
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Beaker

Syria criticizes US for not destroying its chemical weapons arsenal

Paul Antonopoulos
Fort Russ News
Wed, 27 Nov 2019 18:08 UTC
OPCW
Syria's Permanent Representative to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCB), Bassam Sabah, said that since joining the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Syria has done more than the US in destroying its arsenals.

"In a very short time, Syria has done more than the United States, which has adhered to the Convention from the outset, but is delaying the complete destruction of its huge chemical weapon stockpiles," Sabah said at the 24th session of the Conference of Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention in The Hague.

The diplomat recalled that Syria acceded to the Convention in 2013, and the Convention entered into force in 1997.

"We have fulfilled all our commitments and completed the destruction of our chemical weapons and the facilities where they were produced, achieving them under extremely complicated conditions," said Sabah.

On November 25, OPAQ Director-General Fernando Arias stated that "as of October 31, 2019, a total of 68,600 tonnes, or 97.3% of declared Category 1 chemical weapons, were destroyed under verification. of the organization's Secretariat."
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Star of David

Expelled HRW official: 'Israel has lost even pretense of respect for international law'


RT
Wed, 27 Nov 2019 17:27 UTC
idf omar shakir
© REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman; Mussa Qawasma
A top Human Rights Watch official recently deported from Israel spoke to RT about his expulsion, warning that the world will hear about more rights abuses in the occupied Palestinian lands if it doesn't act.

Omar Shakir, an American citizen and Human Rights Watch (HRW) director for Israel and Palestine, was deported earlier this week under the pretext of calling for a boycott of the Jewish state. He told RT that evicting a HRW official for his professional activity was a telling move.

"This is without doubt an effort to muzzle down Human Rights Watch and to muzzle advocacy for Palestinian rights," Shakir proclaimed.

Israel is regarded a Western-style democracy, but free expression there actually excludes campaigning for the rights of Palestinians, Shakir pointed out.
This move shows the degree to which Israel has lost even the pretense of respect for basic international norms. If Israel, despite criticism from much of the world, deports me as it did earlier this week for my rights advocacy, how it will ever stop abusing rights?
By throwing out a representative of "one of the world's largest human rights organizations," Israel is trying to warn other rights groups that "your work documenting rights abuses could result in facing new punitive sanctions."
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Bad Guys

OK, boomer? Germany's Merkel says it's essential to preserve NATO

Geir Moulson
AP
Wed, 27 Nov 2019 16:57 UTC
merkel
NATO is at least as essential today as it was during the Cold War, Chancellor Angela Merkel said Wednesday, renewing a pledge to keep raising Germany's defense spending and arguing that it is important to keep Turkey in the alliance.


Comment: It's an amazing thing that becomes more essential even after its sole reason for existing - the Soviet Union - ceases to exist. You'd almost think Merkel was full of it!


Merkel told the German parliament before a NATO summit in London next week that "Europe cannot defend itself alone at the moment; we rely on this trans-Atlantic alliance."


Comment: Defend itself from what, exactly? Space aliens?


"The preservation of NATO is in our very own interest today, more strongly than during the Cold War — or at least as strongly as during the Cold War," she said. Merkel added that it's "right for us to work for this alliance and take on more responsibility."

French President Emmanuel Macron's recent public criticism of NATO — notably a perceived lack of U.S. leadership, concerns about Turkey since it invaded northern Syria without warning its allies, and the need for Europe to take on more security responsibilities — has shaken the alliance.


Comment: Macron stands by his statement, 'telling reporters that by referring to the alliance as "brain dead," he gave its members a "useful wake-up call."'


President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized alliance members for not spending enough on defense, and in the past has called NATO "obsolete."
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