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Syria to open checkpoints with Iraq on common border


Sputnik
Thu, 01 Nov 2018 18:00 UTC
syria iraq border
© AP Photo / Bassem Tellawi
Syria is ready to open checkpoints on the border with Iraq, as it sees no security threats, and waits for the neighboring state to solve logistics issues, Syrian Transport Minister Ali Hammoud told Sputnik in an interview.

The checkpoints on the Syrian-Iraqi border have been closed since 2014 due to the territory being seized by the Daesh terrorists. Damascus and Baghdad have discussed the issue of opening the border earlier in October.

"During the last visit of Iraqi Foreign Minister [Ibrahim Jaafari] to Syria, one of the main topics discussed was opening the border. The Iraqi side promised that it would be done soon. We are ready as soon as logistics issues are solved on the Iraqi side," the minister said.


Comment: The US has been using the threat of ISIS as a pretext for keeping the borders with Iraq closed, thus depriving Syria of a large source of revenue. While the border crossing in the east is now clear, the U.S. is still occupying the other crossing in al-Tanf. And that's pretty much the only reason they're holding it: to spite the Syrian government and prevent Syria from reinvigorating its economy by trade with its neighbor.

See also: US pretends to support independence of Syria and Iraq - just can't admit defeat

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Dollars

Trump 'wouldn't be surprised' if Soros & Democratic groups were funding migrant caravans


RT
Thu, 01 Nov 2018 11:51 UTC
central american migrant caravan
© Global Look Press / Miguel Juarez Lugo

Comment: Well, yeah, who can honestly say that they would be surprised?


President Trump has seemed to double down on a theory, popular among his supporters, that George Soros or other Democratic groups are financing the migrant caravans surging toward the US's southern border.

"I wouldn't be surprised. I don't know who, but I wouldn't be surprised. A lot of people say yes," he told a Daily Mail journalist who asked him what he thought of the idea that Soros was funding the caravans.

With the 2018 elections less than a week away, Trump is desperate to rally his supporters and retain Republican control of Congress. After announcing earlier this week that he would send 5,000 troops to the Mexican border to stop the migrant caravans, he upped the number to 15,000 in a press conference on Wednesday, emphasizing that "nobody's coming in."

Comment: As Soros and Dems derive substantial benefits from the influx of migrants, it's a valid supposition:

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Evil Rays

New Russian electronic warfare system can paralyze NATO comms

Paul Antonopoulos
Fort Russ News
Thu, 01 Nov 2018 17:09 UTC
Samarkand russian ew
The brand-new Samarkand electronic warfare complex can completely paralyze NATO's communication systems, said Yuri Knutov, director of the Russian Anti-aircraft Defense Museum.

In a commentary for TV Zvezda, the military said that thanks to these complexes, the Russian military will be able to "contain the aggression of the [Atlantic] Alliance," with lower costs.

"These electronic warfare weapons were tested in Syria, they showed their high efficiency against both drones and cruise missiles and consequently against AWACS Aircraft of Alert and Control, of American production," he added.

In Knutov's view, the US has been "preparing for a real war with Russia since the 2000s."

"At the time, it was a theory, but now they start practicing," he said, referring to the numerous exercises carried out by NATO, including in the vicinity of Russian borders.
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Attention

Whoopsie daisy! USAID might have 'mistakenly' funded terrorists to the tune of $700 million


RT
Thu, 01 Nov 2018 17:26 UTC
Al-Nusra
© AFP / Fadi al-Halabi
Al-Nusra Front fighter, Syria
A recent USAID audit report found that some of its humanitarian programs for war-torn Syria and Iraq might have assisted terrorist groups. The assistance in question amounts to nearly $700 million.

The agency in charge of foreign aid provided by Washington has done a poor job to mitigate risks for its projects to end up in wrong hands, Official USAID Office of Inspector General (OIG) found. The paper, highlighting the risk of terrorists benefiting from US foreign assistance among other vulnerabilities, was published on September 25.

To provide help, USAID gives awards to public international organizations (PIOs) which then deal with the troubled areas. However, the way the organizations use the funds might have some flaws and does not fully comply with the 2008 State Department's guidance. The latter is aimed to secure the money from assistance programs doesn't land in the wrong hands helping terrorist groups, according to the report.

Comment: Good news for terrorists sympathizers everywhere! Now there's no need to traverse the dangerous and seedy underbelly of making financial transfers to your favorite terrorist organization. Just donate to USAID today with quick, easy, and secure payments, and rest assured your money will be funneled 'accidentally' to your fiendish head-chopping friends!

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Eye 1

DARPA seeks FAA approval for military drones over US cities by 2030

Nicolas West
Activist Post
Wed, 31 Oct 2018 16:50 UTC
DARPA drone surveillance
Just a little over 10 years after drone surveillance inside U.S. borders was declared a conspiracy theory, it is now an indisputable fact of life. So, too, are military grade drones along the "border," which in reality constitutes a 100-mile-wide swath that encircles the continental United States and 2/3 of its population.

According to a new report from Defense One, this level of access is still seen as a restriction by the DARPA-directed military apparatus. As new forms of autonomous aircraft take to the skies such as the latest Blackhawk helicopter drones that could be ready by 2019, DARPA and aircraft developers want permission to fly over large cities as needed. Utilizing a new artificial intelligence system that is literally called MATRIX, developers see an opportunity for more flexibility in potential use. Of course, surveillance isn't mentioned among those uses:
After that, similar to Predator drone maker General Atomics, they have their eyes on FAA certification to fly large, unmanned aircraft within the continental United States, to help ferry people and supplies from the mainland to offshore oil rigs, among other potential jobs. Today, large drones likes Predators are forbidden to fly over the U.S. except in a handful of largely unpopulated areas along the U.S.Mexico border.

The FAA is now figuring out how to change guidelines to allow unmanned planes and helicopters to fly over big cities. "We are working with the FAA on that. Our stated goal is 2030. It very much depends on rule making. We are certainly hoping for sooner, for the mid-2020s, to field it," he said.
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Laptop

Facebook's vaunted transparency tool spectacularly fails to catch fake ads by 'US Senators & ISIS'


RT
Thu, 01 Nov 2018 16:41 UTC
Mark Zuckerberg
© Reuters / Charles Platiau
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO and founder of Facebook Inc. at the Viva Tech start-up and technology gathering on May 24, 2018 in Paris, France.
Facebook's new political transparency disclosure tool failed to catch 100% of the fake ads submitted by journalists - even recycled "Russian troll" posts from 2016. Fake candidates, Cambridge Analytica and even ISIS were accepted.

A week after revealing it had fooled Facebook into giving it approval to run ads in the name of Vice President Mike Pence, DNC chairman Tom Perez, and even the Islamic State terrorist group, Vice attempted the ruse a second time - and found it was just as easy to pose as all 100 US senators using the same approach.
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Footprints

Saudis treated 'lying toad' Boris Johnson to £14,000 trip two weeks before Khashoggi murder


RT
Thu, 01 Nov 2018 15:54 UTC
Boris Johnson Adel al-Jubeir
© Reuters/Justin Tallis/Pool
Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir (L) is greeted by Britain's Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.
Former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson took part in a £14,000 all-expenses-paid trip to Saudi Arabia, two weeks before the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the country's Istanbul consulate, parliamentary papers revealed.

Johnson flew to Jeddah on September 19, for a three-day visit, where he reportedly was treated to accommodation, food and travel by the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

An entry in the Commons register of members' interests read that Johnson's goal was "meeting with regional figures to promote education for women and girls."
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Boat

Russia, Iran, India seek new transport corridor to serve as quicker and cheaper alternative to Suez Canal


RT
Thu, 01 Nov 2018 15:18 UTC
freight ship
© Getty Images / Anucha Sirivisansuwan
Officials from India, Iran, and Russia are going to meet next month to negotiate a large joint project aimed at launching a new cargo transport corridor that could become a cheaper and shorter alternative to the Suez Canal.

The new shipment passage, North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), is set to connect the Indian Ocean with the Persian Gulf through Iran to Russia and Europe, according to Iranian state-owned news outlet Press TV. The 7,200-kilometers long corridor will combine sea and rail routes.

"The INSTC is the shortest multimodal transportation route linking the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf via Iran to Russia and North Europe," India's Ministry of Commerce and Industry said in a statement, adding that trilateral talks between the parties are scheduled on November 23.
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Attention

Why Mexico's president-elect Obrador is telling its citizens they "must leave their towns and find a life in the United States"...

sundance
The Conservative Treehouse
Fri, 22 Jun 2018 15:27 UTC
Andrés Manuel López Obrador

President-elect of Mexico Andrés Manuel López Obrador
We've been sharing this intensely predictable issue since late 2017. Andrés Manuel López Obrador, or "AMLO", is going to be the next President of Mexico. The self-described "soft Marxist", a Mexican Hugo Chavez, has been so far ahead of all other candidates - the outcome of the July 1st Mexican election is a foregone conclusion.

Interestingly, people are only now starting to take notice because AMLO is openly telling his fellow countrymen they must flood the U.S. border.
(From the Daily Caller) [...] "And soon, very soon - after the victory of our movement - we will defend all the migrants in the American continent and all the migrants in the world," Obrador said, adding that immigrants "must leave their towns and find a life in the United States." He then declared it as "a human right we will defend."
Most political observers read this and think it sounds crazy. They make comparisons to a U.S. presidential candidate telling Americans to flee to Canada (Daily Wire example). That type of perspective shows a disconnect. The paradigm, and frame of reference, is entirely wrong.

Comment: A dissenting view: Daily Wire misquotes Mexican presidential candidate - wrongly claims he called for 'mass exodus' to US

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Cult

The 'Russia collusion' story has revealed the Deep State scheme to obstruct President Trump

Sharyl Attkisson
The Epoch Times
Wed, 24 Oct 2018 15:00 UTC
clapper brennan mccabe comey
© Getty Images
(L-R) Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former CIA Director John Brennan, former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe, and former FBI Director James Comey.
Special counsel Robert Mueller is more than a year and five months into his investigation into whether President Donald Trump "colluded" in some illegal fashion with Russian President Vladimir Putin (or any other Russians). But Mueller has yet to reveal what he has - or hasn't - concluded.

On the other hand, there's now an impressive body of public evidence to address another facet of this international controversy: collusion against Trump.

Evidence on this matter has trickled out slowly over the course of about two years. It has come in the form of sworn testimony from witnesses interviewed by Congress, information revealed by the Justice Department's inspector general, government documents and text messages, and court files.

Comment: The swamp is wide, deep, and stinks to high heaven. Draining it may be a matter of decades, if it's possible at all.

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