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Beijing mocks US intel chiefs for testifying against 'Chinese spy phones'


RT
Thu, 15 Feb 2018 13:03 UTC
Huawei
The chiefs of six US intelligence agencies have claimed that Chinese phones might be used for spying. Beijing hit back, stating that not a single object in the world is entirely safe and mocking the American "sense of insecurity."


Comment: How bizarre. We already know that Google and Apple gathers huge amounts of data from users of their phones. The theory must be that it is better to be spied upon by American companies and intel agencies rather than Chinese ones. And bear in mind that the Chinese phones sold in the western world all run a version of Google's Android OS.


The concerns over the threat potentially posed by Chinese smartphones, namely produced by one of the main Apple rivals Huawei, were voiced on Tuesday during the Senate Intelligence Committee on worldwide threats. The chiefs of six intelligence agencies - the FBI's Christopher Wray, the CIA's Mike Pompeo, the NSA's Michael Rogers, Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Dan Coats, Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) Robert Ashley and National Geospatial Intelligence Agency Director Robert Cardillo - testified at the hearings.

The gathering focused on the usual "threats" to Washington, namely assertions relating to the alleged Russian attempts to interfere in various US elections and China's alleged goal of replacing the US as "the most powerful and influential nation on Earth."

Comment: For more on this charade of a hearing, check out:

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USA

Georgian snipers testify to being ordered by Maidan leaders to shoot at police and protesters, provoke attacks during Ukraine coup

Andrei Veselov
Sputnik
Wed, 14 Feb 2018 17:36 UTC
maidan square
© Sputnik, Andrey Stenin
Maidan square in Kiev, Ukraine, February 19, 2014
On February 20, 2014, unknown snipers shot at people gathered on Kiev's central Maidan square, killing 49 protesters and four police officers. Local opposition leaders, as well as US and EU representatives, were quick to point a finger at the "regime of Viktor Yanukovych." Still, an official investigation failed to produce any results with the culprits still at large.

A Sputnik correspondent has met with the purported snipers, all of them from Georgia. They insist that they were taking orders from Maidan leaders. Moreover, they had direct orders to fire at police officers AND protesters in order to enrage the crowd and provoke a political crisis.
georgian snipers maidan
© Sputnik
General Tristan Tsitelashvili, Alexander Revazishvili and Koba Nergadze.
General Tristan Tsitelashvili, the former commander of the Georgian Army's elite Avaza unit, was the first to say that certain Georgian snipers were involved in the Maidan shooting. Tsitelashvili fought in Abkhazia and took part in the "five-day war" of August 2008, but later became a personal enemy of Mikheil Saakashvili, who tried to blame the military for his fiasco.

Tsitelashvili's house was raided by police who arrested the general and seriously injured his little son. They tried to force him to admit to having played a role in an alleged "plot by generals", which purportedly resulted in Georgia's defeat in the 2008 war. The general did not testify and has since been a sworn enemy of Saakashvili.
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Light Sabers

Russian military intervention protects Syria from division

huaxia
New China (Xinhua)
Thu, 15 Feb 2018 10:02 UTC
Syrians emerge from a dust cloud
© AFP/Xinhua
Syrians emerge from a dust cloud following a reported airstrike on Kafr Batna, in the rebel-held Eastern Ghouta area, on the outskirts of the capital Damascus, on September 30, 2016
A year has passed since Russia launched military operations in Syria against the radical rebel groups, in what was seen by Syrian analysts as an intervention that has saved Syria from fragmentation.

Unlike the U.S.-led intervention with the pretext of fighting the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria, the Russian intervention to support the Syrian government forces is seen to have helped shift the course of actions on ground in favor of the Syrian government army, which has been facing an array of ultra-radical groups for over five years.

Local analysts said the Russian air force intervention has protected Syria from division, especially that many plans to fragment Syria were put forward in the shape of a political solution.

The Kremlin said on Friday that the Russian military support played a role in preventing the downfall of the capital city of Damascus in the hands of the rebels, noting that there is no time-frame for the Russian military intervention.

Comment: See also:

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Jet1

Syrian air defenses intercept Israeli spy planes over Quneitra, forcing them to leave


Sputnik
Thu, 15 Feb 2018 09:30 UTC
Israeli Heron drone
© AP Photo/ Ariel Schalit, File
An Israeli army Heron unmanned drone aircraft
Just a few days after the downing of an Israeli fighter jet on Syrian territory, Tel Aviv has reportedly made another attempt to enter Syrian airspace using reconnaissance planes.

Israeli spy planes have been tackled by the Syrian air defense forces in the country's southwestern province of Quneitra, prompting these aircraft to retreat, according to the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA).

SANA reported that "Syrian air defenses have repelled Israeli surveillance planes over Quneitra, forcing them to leave Syrian airspace."

Comment: Syrian air defense forces have forced an Israeli reconnaissance aircraft to leave the airspace of the country, after it was seen in the sky over El Quneitra.
"We have no comment on this," said an employee of the Israeli army press service.
A military source in Damascus informed Al-Masdar News that the Syrian Air Defense confronted several Israeli drones near the border of the occupied Golan Heights.
According to the source, the Syrian Air Defense was able to force the Israeli drones to retreat from the Al-Quneitra Governorate to the occupied Golan Heights.

The military source added that the Syrian Air Defense is on high alert in southwestern Syria, as they expect the Israeli Air Force to react in the coming hours or days.
See also: Israeli minister threatens to destroy Syrian air defenses

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Better Earth

Haaretz says Putin's phone call to Netanyahu put an end to illegal Israeli strikes in Syria

Amos Harel
Haaretz
Wed, 14 Feb 2018 21:18 UTC
putin netanyahu
© Maxim Shemetov/Reuters
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attend an event in Moscow, Russia, January 29, 2018.
Russian President Vladimir Putin put an end to the confrontation between Israel and Iran in Syria and both sides accepted his decision. That's the apparent conclusion to be reached from the chain of events this past weekend.

On Saturday afternoon, after the second wave of bombardments by the Israel Air Force against Syrian targets and Iranian installations in Syria, senior Israeli officials were still taking a militant line and it seemed as if Jerusalem was considering further military action. Discussion of that ended not long after a phone call between Putin and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The official announcement by the Russian Foreign Ministry objected to the violation of Syrian sovereignty by Israel and totally ignored the event that provoked the eruption - the infiltration of an Iranian drone into Israeli airspace. In the conversation with Netanyahu a few hours later, Putin asked him to avoid moves that could lead to "a new round of dangerous consequences for the region."


Comment: Israelis like Harel are like 12-year-old girls. "The Russian Foreign Ministry, like, totally ignored the fact that Iran flew a drone over our borders!" Yeah, and you destroyed it. Get over it. How many times have you guys illegally flown military jets into Syrian airspace, bombed them and rained missiles on their heads? How's that for respect for sovereignty? Israel has gotten off lightly for all its war-mongering and blatant criminality.


The Russians are also concerned about the proximity of the Israeli bombings to sites where their soldiers and advisers are serving, including base T-4 near Palmyra, where the Iranian control post from which the anti-aircraft missile was fired was bombed.


Comment: Alleged control post. That's another thing the Israelis are notorious for: lack of any actual evidence for their claims.


The quiet after the Netanyahu-Putin call shows once again who's the real boss in the Middle East. While the United States remains the region's present absentee - searches are continuing for a coherent American foreign policy - Russia is dictating the way things are going. Moscow has invested too much effort and resources in saving Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime in recent years to allow Israel to foil its strategic project. One can assume messages of this nature were conveyed during the phone call with Netanyahu.
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Stop

Delusional Hillary set to hit the campaign trail to 'help' Democrats in midterm elections

Guy Benson
Townhall
Tue, 13 Feb 2018 18:15 UTC
hillary clinton
Look, I'm not saying that she couldn't potentially be useful to certain candidates in carefully-targeted districts (might she finally venture to such exotic locales as Wisconsin?), but I cannot imagine that the (surging) Republican Party is the least bit opposed to Hillary Clinton re-entering the political spotlight ahead of a challenging midterm election cycle. As I've written before, if she weren't doing so on her own accord, the GOP may have been forced to devise some way to actually pay her to get out there and "help." Well, Democrats, help is on the way:
Her emerging 2018 strategy, according to more than a dozen friends and advisers familiar with her plans, is to leverage the star power she retains in some Democratic circles on behalf of select candidates while remaining sufficiently below the radar to avoid becoming a useful target for Republicans seeking to rile up their base...Most likely, they said, Clinton will attempt to help Democratic candidates who have a history of supporting her and her family..."She's not going to be up front," said Jaime Harrison, a former chairman of the South Carolina Democratic Party and an associate chairman of the Democratic National Committee...Clinton's team also understands that, although she remains popular with many Democrats, she could be a hindrance to candidates running in Trump country.

Comment: It will be interesting to see just how welcome Hillary is on the campaign trail: Democrats distancing themselves from Hillary as her crimes keep piling up

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Info

Iranian and American leaders clash over their militaries' presence in Syria


Sputnik
Wed, 14 Feb 2018 20:11 UTC
american military troops
© REUTERS/ Rodi Said
Iran has repeatedly strongly refuted claims of its troops' presence in Syria, however, admitted sending military advisors to help the Syrian government fight terrorists. Tehran has also been acting as one of the guarantors of the ceasefire regime in the Arab Republic and as a broker in peace talks.

Ali Akbar Velayati, the top aide of Iranian Supreme Leader, has demanded the US military pullout from Syria as it is "there without the permission" of Damascus.

When asked to comment on the demand voiced earlier in the day by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson concerning Tehran's withdrawal from the country, Velayati was quoted as saying by ISNA, "Iran's military presence in Syria was based on invitation of the Syrian government."

Earlier in the day, Tillerson also voiced concern over the recent incidents in Syria, involving Israel, apparently referring to the events of February 10 when the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) reported that one of their Apache attack helicopters downed an Iranian unmanned aerial vehicle over the disputed Golan Heights.

Comment: Tillerson has some chutzpah, demanding Iran to leave Syria. Whether he and the American military like it or not, Iranians are there legally, the Americans aren't.

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Target

Beat a dead horse: US Intel chiefs now warning Russia intends to meddle in midterm elections

Mike Eckel
RFE/RL
Tue, 13 Feb 2018 14:52 UTC
deadhorse/riders
© Steve Bell
The heads of the lead U.S. intelligence agencies warned that Russia intends to use cyberattacks, more propaganda, and other tactics to try and influence upcoming elections for the U.S. Congress and in some European countries.

Testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee on February 13, the directors of the CIA, the FBI, the National Security Agency, and three other spy agencies all agreed with the assessment that Moscow had not curtailed its efforts to influence U.S. politics since the 2016 presidential election.

"Persistent and disruptive cyberoperations will continue against the United States and our European allies using elections as opportunities to undermine democracy," Dan Coats, the Director of National Intelligence, who serves as head of the 17-member U.S. intelligence community, told lawmakers.



Comment: Coats is most closely describing the actions and subversions by the USA in its history of numerous and ongoing color revolutions and empirical aspirations.


Comment: Zero (2016) + Zero (2018) = Russian meddling in the US elections...twice. Makes no sense, right? Unless it is to double down on previous falsehoods and force Trump and Congress to blindly acquiesce to a neocon agenda. And that would play nicely for Israel.

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Folder

Declassified: Comey's secret Obama 'Russia' meeting amid 'unmaskings'

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Wed, 14 Feb 2018 05:10 UTC
Susie Rice
© The Gateway Pundit
Former Natl. Security Advisor Susan Rice
An odd email sent moments after the inauguration by former National Security Advisor Susan Rice, apparently to herself, describes a January 5, 2017 meeting between members of the U.S. intelligence community and President Obama, while Rice and the Obama were knee deep in "unmasking" the Trump team.

We also know from recently released text messages between anti-Trump FBI agents Peter Strzok and Lisa Page that "potus wants to know everything we're doing."

In her email, Rice very deliberately notes that President Obama
"stressed his continued commitment to ensuring that every aspect of this issue is handled by the Intelligence and law enforcement communities 'by the book'" and that Obama "stressed that he is not asking about, initiating or instructing anything from a law enforcement perspective".
"Rice's "CYA" email to herself is so bizarre in light of the fact that we now know the Trump-Russia investigation was anything but "by the book," that Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) fired off a letter asking her just what in tarnation she knows.
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Star of David

NYT neglects to report Netanyahu initiated air war over Syria as distraction from corruption probes

James North
Mondoweiss
Sun, 11 Feb 2018 00:00 UTC
Netanyahu
© unknown
Netanyahu in the Golan Heights.
Once again, the New York Times has failed in its duty to its readers to tell the full truth about Israel. This latest example of Times journalistic malpractice is on display in today's report about Israel's dangerous escalation of air attacks against Syria, during which an Israeli F-16 warplane was shot down, amid fears that Iran and even Russia might be drawn into the conflict.

First, and most important, the article, by Isabel Kershner, nowhere explains that many Israelis and others believe that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is promoting regional armed conflict to distract attention from the corruption probes that are zeroing in on him and his wife, Sara. This site back in December quoted respected Haaretz opinion writer Bradley Burston's view, that Netanyahu "needs a war with Iran," that he is "desperate because police detectives and investigative journalists are closing in on him."

Comment: In that Israel has been aggressive in its bombing raids over a number of years, puts into question the timing duo of this last raid specifically with the Netanyahu transgressions. This is not to say the convenience and overlap should go unnoticed. Bibi is more than willing to have an excuse of this magnitude that: momentarily reduces Syrian/Iranian capabilities, gives a license (according to Israel) to administer unwarranted destruction in the guise of retaliation, shape a story to fit an objective, blame Iran for starting a war, and cover Bibi's ass in distraction. What's not to love if you're Israel?

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