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For the record: Russian Foreign Ministry's statement regarding their veto of the French-proposed UN Security Council draft resolution on Syria


Voltaire Network
Sat, 08 Oct 2016 00:00 UTC
Maria Zakharova

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova
October 8, the Russian Federation voted against the UN Security Council draft resolution on Syria, proposed by France.

The text of the document, which was obviously drawn up with Washington's encouragement directly after the United States refused to observe the Russian-US agreements on the Syrian settlement, flagrantly misrepresented the actual state of affairs and had a politically-charged and unbalanced character. The French-proposed document indiscriminately laid the blame for the escalation of tensions in the Syrian Arab Republic solely on the country's authorities and plainly attempted, through a ban on military flights over the city of Aleppo, to afford protection to Jabhat al-Nusra terrorists and the militants that have merged with it, despite the UN member states' obligation to fight the terrorist threat with all available means. The draft resolution completely obscured the fact that the humanitarian crisis in Aleppo was provoked deliberately, when in August and September the militants refused to provide access to humanitarian convoys, threatening to open fire on them. At the same time, the document ignored the need to promptly initiate an intra-Syrian political process, which is being sabotaged by the same Syrian opposition members who are supported and covered by the West in every possible way.

Comment: The rift between Russia and West has just been widened further with France's imbecilic UN proposal:

See:

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Radar

Syrian rebels begging 'brotherly countries' to supply anti-aircraft weapons


Sputnik
Wed, 12 Oct 2016 16:35 UTC
TOW anti-tank missile
© AFP 2016/ SAM YEH
Syria's main opposition group asked its foreign allies Monday to give them man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS) to repel airstrikes in Aleppo.

The Saudi-backed High Negotiations Committee (HNC) group, after gathering for two days in Riyadh, has blasted what it referred to as the "scorched earth policy" of Syrian President Bashar Assad and his allies.

HNC spokesman Salem al-Meslet said that the opposition was relying on "brotherly countries and friends [...] to lift the embargo on sophisticated weapons imposed on the opposition." The opposition rebels could be supplied with advanced weapons such as the shoulder-fired anti-aircraft MANPADS, effective against slow low-flying helicopters often used by Syrian air forces to drop bombs.
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Heart

Russian maestro Gergiev urges leaders to drop political agendas that are widening the world's deep divide, misunderstanding


RT
Wed, 12 Oct 2016 16:05 UTC
Valery Gergiev

Russian conductor Valery Gergiev led a concert in the amphitheatre of the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra on May 5, 2016
The deep divide and misunderstanding between world powers is widening, said Russian maestro Valery Gergiev, urging leaders to drop their political agendas and look instead at what can bring the world together.

"The deep divide, total misunderstanding between big countries, leading powers of this world, is widening and widening. I am worried that this divide will continue," Valery Gergiev told RT.

He said that the problem of misunderstanding between the countries may be solved if Americans, Europeans, Asians, Russians, Africans, Latin Americans drop their political agendas in order to "act together" on "humanely rich, culturally rich exchange."

Comment: It's an admirable sentiment but those leaders (i.e. the U.S. and its allies) who are chiefly responsible for the world's growing chaos are far too intent on achieving their aims of global conquest to work with those who are attempting to find solutions, seeing them as only roadblocks to world domination.

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Info

Stand-off? South Korea to deploy marines near Japan-claimed islands, citing North's aggression


RT
Wed, 12 Oct 2016 16:27 UTC
South Korean navy vessel
© South Korean Navy / Reuters
South Korea has risked provoking Japan and angering the United States by announcing plans to station a battalion of marines near a resource-rich territory also claimed by Tokyo, citing North Korean aggression as the reason behind the move.

Seoul's military command has set a date for the beginning of troop deployment to Ulleungdo Island, in the Sea of Japan. The island is dangerously close to Liancourt Rocks, a group of islets whose control is disputed between South Korea and Japan.

Construction of barracks and other facilities will begin next year, Yonhap News reports, citing South Korean military officials. A company or battalion-sized force of marines and Assault Amphibious Vehicles will be stationed on the island by 2018.
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Document

Documents reveal Obama was warned that arms sold to Saudi Arabia would be used against civilians


teleSUR
Wed, 12 Oct 2016 16:24 UTC
obama salman arabia saudita
© Jonathan Ernst / Reuters
Documents reveal that diplomats warned Obama that Saudi Arabia would commit war crimes in Yemen, but the sale proceeded anyway.

Despite stern and repeated warnings from their own diplomatic staff that U.S. weaponry would almost certainly be used to commit war crimes against Yemeni citizens, the Obama Administration nevertheless approved US$1.3 billion in arms sales to Saudi Arabia, according to documents published Monday by the Reuters news agency.

During the period in 2015, when the Pentagon was considering weapons sales to its longtime ally, Saudi Arabia, the State Department warned the Obama administration that the U.S. could be implicated in war crimes committed by the Saudi kingdom. The Saudis launched a coalition effort in support of embattled Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi​'s loyalists in their ongoing conflict against the country's Houthi tribe.

According to documents obtained by Reuters following a Freedom of Information Act request, Pentagon officials informed the White House of their doubts that Saudi forces would be able to target rebels without also killing civilians or destroying "critical infrastructure." By 2015, it was already apparent to U.S. diplomats that Saudi air strikes were killing thousands of Yemeni civilians.

"The strikes are not intentionally indiscriminate but rather result from a lack of Saudi experience with dropping munitions and firing missiles," said a specialist from the State Department while meeting with human rights groups, according to the documents obtained by Reuters under a freedom of information request.
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Radar

German government approves more troops for NATO surveillance mission in Turkey


RT
Wed, 12 Oct 2016 16:17 UTC
E-3 Sentry AWACS aircraft
© AFP
The German federal government has approved participation in a NATO mission to fly surveillance craft from a Turkish base, making progress on a deal that had been stalled amid tensions with Ankara.

Germany is meant to provide a third of the troops necessary for the AWACS (airborne warning and control system) flights, which will be launched from the Konya airbase in southern Turkey and will provide radar data for US-led coalition sorties in Syria and Iraq. The deployment is yet to be given the go ahead by the German parliament, however, with a vote expected in November.

The mission was approved by NATO in July and is mostly meant as a symbolic gesture, which would make NATO part of the US-led coalition fighting terrorist group Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) in Syria and Iraq. The alliance is already flying some AWACS from the Konya base, but they are not part of the Syrian mission and were deployed starting early 2016 in the wake of the Turkish downing of a Russian warplane last year.
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Mr. Potato

Playing into 'clash of civilizations': 'Leftist' president Hollande sez French footballers not French enough, France being taken over by Muslims

Peter Allen
MailOnline
Wed, 12 Oct 2016 15:54 UTC
Hollande
© Agence France-Presse
French president Francois Hollande
French president Francois Hollande has admitted the country 'has a problem with Islam' and warned France's national symbol will one day be a woman in a burka.

Hollande also branded ethnic minority football stars as 'guys from the estates, without references, without values, who leave France too early', it emerged today. The words were all part of a more general attack on people from Muslim backgrounds whom the Socialist Mr Hollande views as a major difficulty for his country.

French president Francois Hollande has admitted the country 'has a problem with Islam' and warned France's national symbol will one day by a woman in a burka. He claims France 'has a problem with Islam' and warns that the national symbol of his country could one day be a woman in a veil.

In explosive revelations made by investigative journalists,the Socialist Mr Hollande emerges as every bit as right wing as his hated opponents from the National Front and Republican parties.

Comment: Contrast Hollande's inept ratcheting up of up ethnic tensions, with the society Putin has been building:

Public opinion poll shows ethnic tensions in Russia at all-time low
The share of the Russian population which claims to feel ethnic tensions in the areas where they live is now 18 percent - the lowest since 2005, when researchers first addressed the issue, reports the independent public opinion center Levada.

Their research reveals that 79 percent of the respondents saw no, or very little, signs of ethnic tensions in the areas where they reside, with four percent saying the question was too complicated for a simple, direct answer.

It's no surprise that France's 'socialist' (i.e. 'inclusive') leader is in fact anything but. Similar comments were revealed by US 'democrat' Hillary Clinton in recent leaks. They don't 'care' about ordinary people - they fear them, and they especially fear 'the other', which today is 'the Muslim' because of the US 'global war on terror' (which is of course really a war for imperial conquest).

France is fully behind this global crusade, and only complains about it when it isn't receiving its fair share of the spoils. The real clash of civilizations, as ever, is between the ensconced elites in Western countries, and everyone else.

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Cowboy Hat

Putin keeping it real: White House uses Russia scaremongering to manipulate Americans


RT
Wed, 12 Oct 2016 16:07 UTC
Presidential town hall debate
© Jim Bourg / Reuters
The Obama administration is dragging Russia into the US presidential election to manipulate American voters for the benefit of Hillary Clinton, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

US intelligence officials last week accused the Russian government of being behind a series of hacks which targeted the Democratic National Convention and the Hillary Clinton campaign. The Clinton camp has pointed the finger at Putin as the source of the problems it has faced over the leaks practically since the first batch of documents was released. Russia denies any involvement in the cyberattacks.

"They caused this [anti-Russian] hysteria with a sole goal to distract the public from the essence of what the hackers leaked," Putin said at an economic forum in Moscow, referring to the hacking allegations.
"It's basically a way of manipulating public opinion, but for some reason nobody discusses that. They only talk about who did it."
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Treasure Chest

Raising eyebrows: India eyeing advanced Russian S-400 missile system that renders F-35s' stealth useless - UPDATE


Sputnik
Tue, 11 Oct 2016 16:45 UTC
Russian S-400 missle defense system
© RIA Novosti
The move would provide India a unique ability to secure its airspace against even the most sophisticated next generation stealth fighter jets, but is largely driven by an effort from New Delhi to prevent Russia from drifting into partnership with rival Pakistan.

India and Russia are set to negotiate a major multi-billion dollar defense deal on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit next week as the government of Narendra Modi looks to reestablish its military and defense relationship with Moscow and prevent the Kremlin from drifting into partnership with their primary regional rival Pakistan reports Indian newspaper The Financial Express.


Comment: Druzhba 2016: First ever military drills between Russian and Pakistani forces kick off in Cherat, Pakistan


The negotiations would call for India to acquire 5 S-400 'Triumf' long-range air defense missile systems, Kamov-28 helicopters and upgraded models of the Sukhoi 30-MKI elite fighter jet with estimates valuing the possible defense dealing at $6 billion and with the Modi government reportedly looking to expedite the transaction as Russia looks to expand its cooperation with Pakistan.

Comment: India is really going big on military spending: Update (Oct. 12): India has just sent an official request to commence joint production for civilian aircraft in India. Russian Minister of Trade and Industry Denis Manturov said Russia is ready to begin the project. Despite Pakistan-India tensions, Russia continues its policy of balancing relations with all its partners, and not giving in to an "us or them" zero-sum demand. See: Is the Russian power structure divided over India/Pakistan?

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Bad Guys

Hypocrite! British MP supports bombing Yemen, Libya, but compares Russia's defense of Syria to Nazi bombing

Alex Christoforou
The Duran
Tue, 11 Oct 2016 16:25 UTC
MP Andrew Mitchell

British MP Andrew Mitchell
A British lawmaker has accused Russia of targeting civilians in Syria in the same way the Nazis behaved during the Spanish civil war

The British parliament will be holding a three-hour debate on Tuesday about the humanitarian situation in Syria. Expect a lot of Russia bashing, and a lot of "moderate rebel" unicorn sightings.

Senior British lawmaker, Andrew Mitchell is getting a head start on the Russian racism fever that is sweeping the neo-liberal/neocon western world, and helping to move us closer to full scale war.

Mitchell climbed on his parliament soapbox late on Monday(forgetting about the fact that the UK played a leading role in destroying Libya, Syria, and Yemen), to preach about humanitarian efforts in Aleppo.

Humanitarian efforts, in this case, means saving the hides of Al Qaeda and ISIS proxy jihadists stuck in the East of the city.

Mitchell is a part of Prime Minister Theresa May's ruling Conservatives, and a former Secretary of State for International Development...and a complete and utter hypocrite.
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