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Russia Foils Major Terror Attack With Help From the CIA - Trump Says U.S. "Glad to Help"

Harrison Koehli
Sott.net
Mon, 18 Dec 2017 21:55 UTC
fsb raid
© FSB / TASS
Russian Federal Security Service officers detain a suspected Islamic extremist in St. Petersburg on December 15.
Something surprising happened yesterday. Russian President Putin publicly thanked US President Trump for helping to prevent a major ISIS-linked terrorist attack in St. Petersburg. The CIA had provided intelligence to their Russian counterparts, enabling the Russians to find and detain the seven individuals planning the attack and coordinating with "ISIS masterminds" abroad. The raid occurred last Wednesday and Thursday, during which the FSB seized explosives, weapons and ammunition, extremist material, and dismantled a bomb-making workshop.

The Kremlin press service issued a statement on the call Putin made to Trump:
"The Russian president thanked his US counterpart for information shared by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) that helped trace, expose and detain a group of terrorists who had plotted explosions in St. Petersburg's Kazan Cathedral and in other crowded places in that city," the press service said.

Putin then reassured Trump that he would reciprocate information sharing if Russian security services knew of any leads.

"Russian security services, should they have information about possible terrorist threats to the United States and its citizens, will swiftly and unconditionally share it with the US colleagues via partner channels," the press service stressed.
Putin asked Trump to pass on his thanks to CIA Director Pompeo and the agents/analysts who gathered the relevant intelligence.
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Snakes in Suits

Fox News under fire for 'Watter's World' claim of White House 'coup' (VIDEO)


RT
Mon, 18 Dec 2017 19:45 UTC
trump coup fox news Watters
© FOX News
Jesse Watters
Never one to shy away from controversy, Fox News may have crossed the line between biased news coverage and self-satire - intentionally or otherwise - as host Jesse Watters alleged a coup may be underway in the US on Sunday.

The highly inflammatory comments were made during the course of a discussion on special counselor Robert Mueller's investigation into the so-called 'Russiagate' scandal of alleged collusion between the Trump presidential campaign and the Russian government.

"We may now have proof the investigation was weaponized to destroy [Trump's] presidency for partisan political purposes and to disenfranchise millions of American voters," Watters said on his show Watters' World on Sunday. "Now, if that is true, we have a coup on our hands in America."

Comment: Given the relentless attacks the Trump administration has suffered, even before assuming power, an outsider could be forgiven for thinking there actually is an attempted coup in progress. Even Putin has commented on it:
Russian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed allegations of collusion between Russia and United States President Donald Trump's election campaign team.

"It was all invented by people opposed to Trump to make him seem illegitimate. These people are inflicting damage to their domestic political situation, incapacitating the president and showing a lack of respect to the electorate," the Russian president said on Thursday in response to a question about repeated contacts between members of the US president's campaign and Russian officials or proxies, during his annual press conference in Moscow.


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Quenelle

Russia offers to become new mediator in Israeli-Palestinian peace process as US vetoes UN Security Council on Jerusalem status


RT
Mon, 18 Dec 2017 20:54 UTC
Russian Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations Vladimir Safronkov
© Mike Segar / Reuters
Russian Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations Vladimir Safronkov
Moscow is ready to become a new mediator in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Russian deputy UN envoy Vladimir Safronkov said. He also added that Russia is ready to host direct talks between the two sides.

Russia is ready to become "an honest mediator" in the Middle Eastern peace process, Nebenzia said at the UN Security Council meeting, after a resolution on Jerusalem demanding the US decision recognizing it as the Israeli capital be withdrawn was vetoed by Washington.

The Russian representative called on all parties to "show restraint" and refrain from any provocative actions. He also said that any unilateral action could exacerbate the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians, making the already complicated peace process even more difficult.

Comment: See also: US vetoes UN resolution on withdrawing Trump's Jerusalem decision - All other members voted in favor of the document

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Candle

China marks 80th anniversary of Nanjing Massacre with call to work toward peaceful and friendly cooperation with Japan


Reuters
Tue, 12 Dec 2017 00:00 UTC
china nanjing massacre anniversary
© AFP
China on Wednesday marks the 80th anniversary of the Nanjing massacre by Japanese troops, an enduring source of bad blood as present-day rivalry between the two countries keeps a spotlight on historical animosities.
China and Japan have long sparred over their painful history. China consistently reminds its people of the 1937 massacre in which it says Japanese troops killed 300,000 people in what was then its capital.

A postwar Allied tribunal put the death toll in the eastern city of Nanjing at 142,000, but some conservative Japanese politicians and scholars deny a massacre took place at all.

Ties between China and Japan, the world's second- and third-largest economies, have been plagued by a long-running territorial dispute over a cluster of East China Sea islets and suspicion in China about efforts by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to amend Japan's pacifist constitution.

However the two countries have sought to get relations back on track, and Abe and Xi met last month on the sidelines of a regional summit in Vietnam.

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Snakes in Suits

Declassified documents reveal Western leaders lied shamelessly to Gorbachev

Eric Margolis
ericmargolis.com
Mon, 18 Dec 2017 20:20 UTC
George H. W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev

George H. W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev
At a time when the United States is convulsed by anti-Russian hysteria and demonization of Vladimir Putin, a trove of recently declassified Cold War documents reveals the astounding extent of the lies, duplicity and double-dealing engaged in by the western powers with the collapsing Soviet Union in 1990.

I was covering Moscow in those days and met some of the key players in this sordid drama. Ever since, I've been writing that the Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, and Foreign Minister, Eduard Shevardnadze, were shamelessly lied to and deceived by the United States, Britain, and their appendage, NATO.

All the western powers promised Gorbachev and Shevardnadze that NATO would not expand eastward by 'one inch' if Moscow would pull the Red Army out of East Germany and allow it to peacefully reunify with West Germany. This was a titanic concession by Gorbachev: it led to a failed coup against him in 1991 by Communist hardliners.

The documents released by George Washington University in Washington DC, which I attended for a semester, make sickening reading (see them online). All western powers and statesmen assured the Russians that NATO would not take advantage of the Soviet retreat and that a new era of amity and cooperation would dawn in post-Cold War Europe. US Secretary of State Jim Baker offered 'ironclad guarantees' there would be no NATO expansion. Lies, all lies.

Comment: See also:

Declassified US documents prove Gorbachev WAS promised 'no eastward NATO expansion'

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Briefcase

Iran expects to seal deal with Russia-led trade bloc soon


PressTV
Wed, 13 Dec 2017 19:02 UTC
Eurasian Economic Union

Russian President Vladimir Putin founded the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) in 2015 as an economic force e to challenge the might of the European Union and the US.
Iran says it expects the formalities over its membership to the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) - a regional trade bloc led by Russia - would be finalized soon and an agreement with the Union's member states would be signed accordingly.

Iran's media quoted a trade official as saying that the agreement with the EEU would be signed by the presidents of all member countries.

Behrouz Hassanolfat, the director of Europe and Americas Department of Iran's Trade Promotion Organization, was quoted by IRNA news agency as saying that the Islamic Republic expected its membership to the Union to become effective from as early as February 2018.

The EEU is an economic union of former Soviet states including Kazakhstan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia and Russia which leads it. The Union is meant to guarantee free transit of goods, services, capital and workers among member states.
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Bullseye

Venezuela awards 2 offshore gas field licenses to Russia's energy giant Rosneft


RT
Mon, 18 Dec 2017 23:10 UTC
Offshore gas
© Jorge Silva / Reuters
Russian energy giant Rosneft has been awarded licenses to two offshore gas fields in Venezuela. The deal was signed as Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin met with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas on Saturday.

According to the agreement a Rosneft subsidiary, Grupo Rosneft, will become the operator of Patao and Mejillones offshore gas fields in the Caribbean Sea.

For the next 30 years, the Russian company will have the right to sell all gas produced at the fields for exports, including in the form of LNG (liquefied natural gas).

Rosneft is now to prepare proof-of-concept and base projects, which would require approval from the Venezuelan authorities for production to begin.

Comment:
Last year, Syria offered Russia the rights to explore and develop land and offshore oil and gas deposits. In particular, Russia was invited to upgrade the Baniyas refinery and construct a refinery with Iran and Venezuela.
See also: Russia will use Syrian seaports to export grain to the Middle East - official

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Blackbox

Roy Moore sets up "election integrity fund" to prove claims of Alabama voter fraud


RT
Mon, 18 Dec 2017 19:17 UTC
roy moore
© Reuters
Republican candidate Roy Moore is refusing to concede defeat following his loss to Democrat rival Doug Jones in the race for the vacant Senate seat in Alabama.

Moore has reportedly set up an 'election integrity fund' to investigate if voter fraud contributed to his loss.

The former state supreme court judge has refused to recognize the defeat which came by a margin of just over 20,000 votes, less than two percent of the overall total. Despite his campaign being rocked by multiple allegations of sexual misconduct, Moore had been favorite to gain the seat held by the Republicans for 25 years.

Comment: See: Roy Moore defeated by Democrat Doug Jones for Alabama Senate. It appears the smear campaign against Moore won out over voters (assuming no tampering; not necessarily a safe assumption, mind you). It probably didn't help that the press jumped on Moore in the 11th hour for "praising Putin," a total exaggeration of his statement. It's a real testament to how effective a media smear campaign can be, to turn a traditionally red state blue. At this point in American history, vote tampering is just part of the electoral process. Even if it occurs, there is no official acknowledgment, and no consequences. The winner "wins", "fair" and square. A lot will have to chance before that changes.

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Stormtrooper

Is Mexico Heading Towards a Military Dictatorship?

Marina Romero & Andrés Perezalonso
Sott.net
Mon, 18 Dec 2017 20:22 UTC
Mexico protest Internal Security Law
© AFP
A masked demonstrator in Mexico City participates in a protest against the approval of Mexico’s Internal Security Law, which empowers the army with police powers.
It is not without good reason that modern political systems separate the armed forces from the three branches of the state: the executive, legislature and judiciary. Under this model, the executive is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces; only the legislature can declare war; and police duties are overseen by the judiciary. This system of checks and balances enables the branches of government to regulate each other. Notice that military power is always subordinated to the executive and legislature, and is independent from the judiciary. One could say that the military - a professional organism designed to kill and destroy - is a necessary evil given the potential external threats to a state. It is a beast that must remain domesticated, to be unleashed only in extraordinary situations, and never against its own people. And woe unto those who break these rules!

On Friday 15 December both Mexico's Senate and the Chamber of Deputies approved the Internal Security Law, thanks to the majority held by the party in power, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), and the support of some legislators from other parties. The law breaks with the principles of the modern state and sets Mexico on a course for tragedy because it grants police powers to the army.
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Cross

The socio-religious ideology behind Poland's Three Seas Initiative: "Make Europe Christian again"

Andrew Korybko
Oriental Review
Sat, 16 Dec 2017 18:57 UTC
Mateusz Morawiecki

Mateusz Morawiecki
Poland's new Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki shared his dream to make Europe Christian again.

The newly appointed premier replaced Beata Szydlo and symbolizes that Poland is taking a more combative posture towards the West than in the past. While Prime Ministers undoubtedly have a very important domestic role to play too, it's important not to overlook the international implications of Morawiecki's appointment, especially given what he shared in his very first interview after the announcement when he said that "My dream is to re-Christianize the EU since unfortunately, in many places, people no longer sing Christmas carols, the churches are empty and are turning into museums, and this is very sad." In responding to the interviewer's comment about how the EU might cut off funding for Poland, Morawiecki proudly said that "I do remember one former president telling us earlier this year 'you have values, we have funds.' Well, I would love to help the West with proper values."

Comment: The EU is splitting, and it's no one's fault but their own. For Poland's part, their efforts to counter the Western EU are probably a step in the right direction. But as long as they maintain their anti-Russian stance, they'll only be shooting themselves in the foot.
Three-Seas Initiative: Chronically deluded Poland's attempt to dominate Europe from Baltic to Adriatic - by cutting off nose to spite their face

For their side Poland has dreams of using the Three Seas Initiative to make Poland into a new gas hub for the EU by importing US Liquified Natural Gas (LNG).

To ship gas by LNG tanker is a costly process. It requires construction of special LNG terminals at both port of origin and of destination. The gas must first by transformed into a cold liquid state at about −260 °F, and loaded on the specially-made tankers. At destination a similar special LNG terminal is required where the gas can be again changed from liquid to gas state for ultimate consumption. All this is quite costly compared with pipeline gas routes.

By contrast, Russia today delivers most of its gas via pipeline to the EU market. The cost of Russian gas as a result of this and other factors is significantly lower. For Poland this seems not to matter. They dream of replacing Ukraine as the gas transit to the EU with gas from Norway and LNG gas from the USA and perhaps gas from Qatar if Washington does not manage to disrupt that via Saudi sanctions.


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