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Withdrawal from Syria: Trump doesn't want US to be the ME policeman, spending lives and trillions


RT
Thu, 20 Dec 2018 15:06 UTC
Trump thumbup
© CNN
President Donald Trump
US President Donald Trump has claimed that the US will no longer act as the self-proclaimed 'policeman of the Middle East' following his decision to withdraw US troops from operations in Syria.

The US President began Thursday's de facto Twitter press conference by sharing several compliments he had received for his decision to withdraw troops from Syria
"I'm proud of the President today to hear that he is declaring victory in Syria." -Senator Rand Paul. "I couldn't agree more with the presidents [sic] decision. By definition, this is the opposite of an Obama decision. -Senator Mike Lee," Trump tweeted.

Trump then decried the United States' role as the so-called "policeman of the Middle East" arguing that his country had spent "precious lives and trillions of dollars protecting others who, in almost all cases, do not appreciate what we are doing." He added that the US had received nothing in return for its efforts in the seven-year Syrian conflict and that it was "Time for others to finally fight."
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Handcuffs

Moscow court orders arrest of UK investor Bill Browder for organization of criminal network


RT
Fri, 21 Dec 2018 16:16 UTC
Bill Browder
© Reuters/Henry Nicholls
Bill Browder
British investor and passionate Kremlin critic, Bill Browder, already sentenced in absentia in Russia for large-scale fraud, has been accused of organizing a criminal network, with a Moscow court sanctioning his arrest.

The court indicted Browder on Friday, ordering the man to be taken into custody for a period of two months from the moment of his extradition to Russia or his arrest in the country.

The controversial businessman is accused of organizing a criminal network, with the investigation already putting him on an international wanted list.

The new case against Browder was launched in November. The Russian Prosecutor General's Office said that the British entrepreneur created a criminal network in 1997 with the aim of "committing grievous economic crimes, including tax evasion, embezzlement of budget fund in Russia and legalization of criminally obtained income." The damage to the Russian budget from the operations of the criminal network is estimated at 10.5 billion rubles ($150 million).

Defending the head of the Hermitage Capital Management fund, his legal team said it will appeal against the decision to arrest their client in absentia.

Comment: See also:

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Stock Down

'Saudi Arabia is going bankrupt' says Taleb after seeing the Kingdom's newest budget

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Wed, 19 Dec 2018 05:14 UTC
Saudi oilwell
© boereport.com
In all the noise surrounding the latest market moves, political news and frenzy over the Fed's rate hike (or pause), an important development was missed by many when Saudi Arabia released its budget for 2019 on Tuesday, which at 1.106 trillion riyals, or $295 billion - the largest in the kingdom's on record - represents a 7% increase from 1.030 trillion in 2018.

During the unveiling of the budget, Saudi King Salman said his country will continue paying public sector cost-of-living allowances for citizens and will boost spending to stimulate growth even as Saudi Arabia toils to close its deficit, which it won't do yet again as the kingdom forecasts a 6th consecutive budget deficit in a row, estimated to hit $35 billion in 2019.

"We are determined to go ahead with economic reform, achieving fiscal discipline, improving transparency and empowering private sector," the King said.

While state-funded Saudi "generosity" to keep its citizens happy - and not, say, thinking radical, revolutionary thoughts - is well known, analysts believe the continued cost-of-living allowances, first established in January 2018 and estimated by officials to cost more than $13 billion, are intended to stimulate sluggish growth but mostly shore up support for the royal family and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman after a controversy-ridden few months.

Comment: As the world grows darker and colder, as the masses grow fewer and poorer...yep, bankrupt.

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Nuke

Putin accuses US of raising the risk of nuclear war

Polina Nikolskaya, Andrew Osborn
Reuters
Thu, 20 Dec 2018 05:00 UTC
Putin News Conf
© AP
Russian President Vladimir Putin at Annual News Conference, Moscow, Russia
President Vladimir Putin on Thursday accused the United States of raising the risk of nuclear war by threatening to spurn a key arms control treaty and refusing to hold talks about another pact that expires soon.

In a news conference that lasted more than three hours, Putin also backed U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to pull troops out of Syria, said British Prime Minister Theresa May had no choice but to implement Brexit and that Western democracy was under serious strain.

The annual event, the 14th of its kind, is used by Putin to burnish his leadership credentials and send messages to foreign allies and foes.

This year, he made clear his biggest worry was what he called a dangerous new arms race, something he accused the United States of stoking by turning its back on arms control.

Washington has threatened to pull out of the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) which bans Moscow and Washington from stationing short- and intermediate-range, land-based missiles in Europe. Putin said the move, if it happened, would have unpredictable consequences.

Comment: See also:

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Blue Planet

Our goal? Putin says he knows 'very well' who seeks to rule the world


RT
Thu, 20 Dec 2018 15:33 UTC
BoxPutin
© Alexei Druzhinin/Sputnik/Kremlin/Reuters
President Vladimir Putin
Russia does not aim to rule the world, and such assumptions are part of an "imposed mentality" used to distract people, Vladimir Putin told a WSJ reporter when asked about Russia's supposed ambitions for world domination.

Faced with a rather provocative question from the WSJ Moscow Bureau Chief, Ann Maria Simmons, Putin said that "when it comes to ruling the world we know very well where the headquarters [of those], who are trying to do exactly that," is located. "And it's not in Moscow," the president added, speaking at an annual Q&A session in Moscow.

Although the Russian leader has never openly accused Washington of having some global ambitions, he still said that the ongoing contest of influence in the international arena is linked to "the US leading role in the world economy" and its enormous defense spending amounting to "more than $700 billion," which Washington apparently seeks to translate into some political power.

Russia's defense spending amounts to just $46 billion, the president said, noting that the total population of the NATO countries accounts for some 600 million people while Russia has just about 140 million.

"Do you really believe that it is our goal to rule the world?" Putin asked rhetorically. All the speculation about Russia's supposed aspirations for the world dominance are nothing but a "mentality imposed by some to achieve internal goals," the president said.
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No Entry

US shall no longer allow asylum seekers to stay in-country while claims are processed

Connor D. Wolf
LifeZette
Thu, 20 Dec 2018 00:00 UTC
Caravan
© MPR News
'We expect this will result in a truly historical drop in illegal immigration,' Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday.

Asylum seekers will no longer be able to wait here in this country while their claims are being processed. Kirstjen Nielsen, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, announced that news on Thursday.

President Donald Trump has worked to crack down on illegal immigration since the start of his term. But a surge of asylum seekers at the southern border this past year has created legal challenges for the administration and its critics. The administration hopes to overcome this by making asylum seekers wait in Mexico. Nielson said in a statement:
"We will confront this crisis head on, uphold the rule of law, and strengthen our humanitarian commitments. Aliens trying to game the system to get into our country illegally will no longer be able to disappear into the United States, where many skip their court dates. Instead, they will wait for an immigration court decision while they are in Mexico."
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Brick Wall

House approves funding bill including $5.7B for Trump's border wall


RT
Fri, 21 Dec 2018 01:04 UTC
wallconstruct
© Reuters/Leah Millis
The US House of Representatives has approved $5.7bn in funding for a border wall after President Trump rejected a budget without it. The Senate is unlikely to pass the new bill, raising fears of a partial government shutdown.

Trump had stated earlier on Thursday that he would refuse to sign any version of the bill without funding for a wall, sending a compromise bill that would have kept the government open through February back to the drawing board.

The House voted 217-185 to pass the new version of the bill, mostly split between Republicans and Democrats, who have rejected funding the wall. Without a successful agreement, funding for many government departments will expire at midnight on Friday. This is the last chance for the Republican-led House to flex its muscles, as January will see a new Democratic majority seated, and the Republicans' Freedom Caucus has promised to back Trump in his push for the wall.

While Republicans have a majority in the Senate - 51 to the Democrats' 49 - a bill needs 60 votes to pass, unlike in the House, where a simple majority is enough.

Comment: Trump has to break down walls to build one. And the current Senate has a high one.

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Marijuana

Trump legalizes industrial hemp

Tal Axelrod
The Hill
Thu, 20 Dec 2018 04:36 UTC
hempfarmer
© Unknown
Industrial hemp cultivation
President Trump legalized the cultivation of industrial hemp Thursday when he signed a widespread, bipartisan farm bill aimed at boosting the agriculture industry.

The fiber of hemp, a non-intoxicating derivative of the cannabis plant, is used to make a variety of products, such as cardboard, carpets, clothes, paper and more.

hempfabric
© unknown
Hemp fabric
Hemp production and sales have historically been illegal under the same federal prohibition against marijuana. The farm bill only deals with industrial hemp and does not address recreational or medical marijuana.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) worked with Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) to introduce a bill to legalize hemp, which was ultimately included in the farm bill.

"I used my very own hemp pen to sign the conference report, clearing the way for the House and Senate to pass legislation and send it to the president's desk. I'm proud that the bill includes my provision to legalize the production of industrial hemp. It's a victory for farmers and consumers throughout our country," McConnell said when the Senate advanced the farm bill earlier this month.

Comment: See also:

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Wine

US withdrawal from Syria will include al-Tanf base - Sen. Graham wants congressional approval first


Sputnik
Fri, 21 Dec 2018 18:44 UTC
al-tanf
© AP Photo / Hammurabi's Justice News
US-backed anti-government Syrian fighter from Maghaweer al-Thawra stands on a vehicle with a heavy automatic machine gun, left; an American soldier also stands on his armoured vehicle, right, as they take their position at the Syrian-Iraqi border crossing point of Tanf in southern Syria
The United States will withdraw its troops from its military base located in the south-eastern Syrian city of Al-Tanf, near the Jordanian border, BuzzFeed reported, citing a militant commander at Al-Tanf.

Muhannad al-Talla told BuzzFeed that the US troops, who had been training and fighting alongside Al-Tanf's militants, would withdraw from the base, specifying that he was helping to remove equipment. An anonymous US official confirmed the information, emphasizing that this move came as part of US President Donald Trump's decision to pull US troops out of Syria.

Trump announced this decision on 19 December, claiming that the Daesh terrorist group had been defeated, and since the US troops were present in Syria exclusively for the fight against Daesh, they now had no reason to remain there.


Comment: Everyone knows it wasn't the U.S. who defeated ISIS in Syria, but that doesn't matter. Trump has put his critics in an awkward position. To contradict him would mean praising Russia, Iran and Syria (the real forces responsible for ISIS's defeat) - and exposing the fact that the U.S. was NOT in Syria to defeat ISIS. They have to maintain the fiction that defeating ISIS was the U.S.'s primary objective - and that they succeeding to some degree in fulfilling it.

For years, Trump has been saying that the only reason to be in Syria is to defeat ISIS - because that is the only semi-legitimate reason for being there. He has constantly been contradicted by military officers and cabinet members.

His critics can't see it, but this decision shows that Trump actually has some integrity.


While concerns that the withdrawal of the US troops would jeopardize the security situation in the region have been voiced, Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, believes that the US military presence in Syria does not contribute to a political and diplomatic settlement of the crisis.

Comment: Meanwhile, a desperate Lindsey Graham is doing everything he can to keep Americans in Syria for no good reason.
"It is imperative Congress hold hearings on withdrawal decision in Syria - and potentially Afghanistan - to understand implications to our national security," Graham said on Twitter.
Graham is fine starting wars without Congressional approval, but leaving wars? That's another matter entirely.

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Russian Flag

BuzzFeed buzzkill: MSM reports on Russian businessman's murder fall flat after no foul play found


RT
Fri, 21 Dec 2018 18:25 UTC
Aleksandr Perepilichny

The Surrey estate where Russian tycoon Aleksandr Perepilichny collapsed in November 2012.
Western media outlets were showered with praise and accolades after accusing the Kremlin of poisoning a Russian businessman in 2012. But a UK inquest into his death has now taken the wind out of their Russia hysteria sails.

An inquest into the death of Russian businessman Alexander Perepilichny found that he "likely" died of natural causes - contradicting years of sensational reporting pointing to a Kremlin murder plot, some of which was even nominated for a Pulitzer prize.

Perepilichny, who collapsed near his home in Surrey, England in November 2012, had played a prominent role in aiding an investigation into the high profile Magnitsky case. After his death, he became the subject of a number of creatively-sourced articles.

Leading the way was BuzzFeed, which in June 2017 published a seven-part investigation that relied heavily upon the musings of a nameless "senior US intelligence official." The airtight source told the site that Perepilichny had been "assassinated on direct orders from Putin or people close to him" - an accusation that was dutifully relayed to BuzzFeed's readers.


Comment: How long do we have to wait before the majority of readers simply laugh off the endless BS spewed out by Luke Harding-like media trolls and their fictional (or lying) anonymous sources? The fact that they aren't universally mocked and ridiculed is a sign that our societies aren't quite sane. But maybe one day...


Comment: Patrick Armstrong points out the similarity of the case to another from 2008: the death of Badri Patarkatsishvili
...another enemy of Putin dies; oops, Saakashvili's enemy. (Meanwhile, in Georgia, a recording has appeared of Saakashvili ordering his death).
People who have enemies in common with Putin and the Russian state are in an advantageous position. They can murder said enemies safe in the fact that Western media will invariably blame Russia.

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