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Forever war: US-trained Afghan forces continue to lose territory to Taliban


RT
Fri, 29 Jul 2016 09:18 UTC
Afghan military
© Omar Sobhani / Reuters
The NATO-trained Afghan military only controls about two-thirds of Afghanistan's districts and keeps losing territory to the Taliban, despite billions of dollars in US investment and efforts to train a capable national army, an internal US report found.

Taliban and other militant groups continue to gain ground despite Washington halting the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan this year.

The NATO-backed Afghan government only controls or influences 65.6 percent of districts in the country as of May 28, 2016, down from the 70.5 percent it held in January this year.

This is according to a quarterly report by US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) which oversees progress of a multi-billion program to train and equip the national military.

In the meantime, Taliban and other terrorist groups hold or influence 36 districts (8.8 percent of the territory) populated by roughly 2.5 million people, while another 104 districts (25.6 percent) were "at risk" of falling into militants' hands.

Comment: And this is probably exactly the way the U.S. actually wants it: "controlled chaos" and a fertile place from which more jihadis may be recruited, moved from and moved to. And lets not forget these seemingly endless reasons for U.S. meddling in that God-forsaken country:

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Bad Guys

Militants in Eastern Aleppo prevent local men from leaving combat zone


Sputnik
Fri, 29 Jul 2016 14:19 UTC
Syrian soldiers in Aleppo
© AFP 2016/ GEORGE OURFALIAN
Militants in the east of the Syrian city of Aleppo forbade local men under the age of 50 to leave the area of active military engagement, an informed source told RIA Novosti on Friday.

"Only women, children and the elderly are leaving through the safe passages. Men under 50 years old are practically taken hostage, they are forbidden from leaving the areas controlled by terrorists," the source said.

According to another source from local militia, the men could be used when negotiating certain terms or as a human shield.
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Dollars

Russia plans to file for freeze of Ukraine foreign assets if $3bn in sovereign debt not repaid


RT
Fri, 29 Jul 2016 13:30 UTC
coins ukraine flag
© Anatolii Stepanov / Reuters
Coins are thrown up onto a giant Ukrainian national flag
Moscow may file a case seeking to freeze Ukrainian assets abroad if Kiev continues to refuse to pay back the $3 billion debt to Russia, says a source close the presidential administration cited by Izvestia daily.

Earlier this week, Ukraine's Finance Minister Oleksandr Danilyuk said the country didn't intend to repay the $3 billion debt to Russia, calling it "a political credit". The Kremlin insists the debt is sovereign.

Under international law freezing the assets of a debtor is a common measure. "Freezing the assets means the money stops working, in this case, it may become a measure of pressure," said lawyer Osip Visotsky as quoted by Izvestia.

"If Russia gets down and dirty on the issue, the Ukrainian authorities will have to react. Ukraine shouldn't hope the problem will simply go away," Russian State Duma Deputy Leonid Slutsky told Izvestia. He stressed that Ukraine had better repay its sovereign debt.

Earlier this year, Russia filed a lawsuit against Ukraine in the High Court in London to recover the loan Kiev failed to pay back in December.

Comment: 'Ukraine's Western backers were unwilling to provide the guarantees.'It appears Ukraine will be hung out to dry on this one. Ukraine's controllers in the West won't cede an inch towards Russia.

Kiev refuses to pay debt to Russia because it was 'forced to take the money'

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Info

Turkey's Akinci Air Base used by coup plotters will be shut down, turned into memorial


Sputnik
Fri, 29 Jul 2016 13:25 UTC
Akinci Air Base
© Flickr/ U.S. Department of Defense
All units that housed the coup plotters' military equipment would also be closed down, Binali Yildirim said.

The Akinci Air Base near the Turkish capital of Ankara that served as the de-facto headquarters for attempted coup plotters will be shut down, Turkey's Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Friday.

"I declare to all who now stands on the square in Kazan [town northwest of Ankara]. This Akinci base, which nested the traitors, will be closed and we will turn it into a place for our martyrs who died for democracy during the coup attempt," Yildirim said.

On July 15, a faction in the Turkish military attempted to overthrow President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government. Following its failure, Ankara launched a large-scale military, governmental, academic and media crackdown.
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Network

Sensible request: Russia calls for consolidation of intel data on terrorism, avoidance of politicization


RT
Fri, 29 Jul 2016 13:13 UTC
Federal Security Service of Russia
© Igor Ageyenko / Sputnik
To counteract terrorism more effectively, countries should consolidate their databases on terrorists into one, the chief of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) suggested following an international meeting of security chiefs in St. Petersburg.

"Almost every security service and law enforcement body possesses vast troves of information. However, these are isolated databases that have to be consolidated into one," FSB chief Alexander Bortnikov said, referring to European Interpol's and EU crime databases in particular.

Russia has been leading the effort, setting an example by encouraging other countries to sign into an "open" section of its security database that contains information on terrorists and terrorist organizations, Bortnikov, said, adding that "at present, 30 secret services from 24 countries have joined the open section of the data bank."

The other, "closed" section of the database contains the classified information of Russia's secret services.
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Bad Guys

Problem-reaction-solution: 'Lone wolf' attacks boost backing for mass surveillance in UK


Sputnik
Fri, 29 Jul 2016 12:25 UTC
surveillance
© Inconnu
A leading lawyer has told Sputnik that the latest spate of "lone wolf" terror attacks in Europe have given a strong impetus to proponents of allowing security services access to the bulk collection of communications data.

Ever since the revelations by former CIA contractor Edward Snowden that Britain's spy agency GCHQ and the US National Security Agency (NSA) of mass collection of communications data, the issue of privacy has dogged governments across the globe.

In Britain, the government was forced to introduce new legislation — the Investigatory Powers Bill, known as the Snoopers' Charter — which will allow police and the security services to require communications services providers (CSPs) to retain bulk data on phone calls, emails, social media and other communications for up to a year, so that they can have access to them for counterterrorism investigations.

​Many privacy groups have criticized the move, claiming that the bulk collection of data is in breach of human rights and that innocent people would be subject to trawling by the security services. However, the latest lone wolf attacks in France and Germany have given proponents of the bill a boost.

Comment: Unfortunately Dr. Lowe does not put two and two together here - terrorism is meant to bolster the national security state. The national security state is not in the business of 'stopping terror attacks.' The fact that time after time Western intelligence has been well aware of terrorist plots and let them proceed is evidence enough of that, let alone the fact that British intelligence is only keeping tight wraps on one out of 2K terrorists they're aware of. Clearly terrorism is a useful creature for these agencies, keeping people and governments in line.

Further reading: Latest terror attacks prove that US has turned Europe into a time bomb

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Evil Rays

Media study finds BBC, other MSM guilty of 'clear & consistent bias' against Corbyn


RT
Fri, 29 Jul 2016 13:05 UTC
corbyn
© Neil Hall / Reuters
Britain's opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn
British news channels are blatantly biased against Jeremy Corbyn, giving far more airtime to commentators who openly criticize the Labour Party leader than those who support him, a second study of the phenomenon shows.

New research by the Media Reform Coalition and Birkbeck University of London shows there has been a "clear and consistent bias" both online and on television against Corbyn since the coup against his leadership was launched after the EU referendum.

Similar conclusions were drawn earlier in July by a similar London School of Economics (LSE) study.

Birkbeck academics studied news reports published in the wake of the June 23 vote, when a series of shadow cabinet members resigned en masse in the hope of forcing Corbyn to stand down.

Outlets, including the BBC, were found to have given Corbyn opponents double the airtime afforded to Corbynistas.

Comment: The MSM has always been the lackeys of those in power. Those in power know that controlling the narrative (or deleting large parts of it) is the key to maintaining that power.

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Handcuffs

Russian prosecutors promise to extradite over 570 high-profile suspects to foreign nations


RT
Fri, 29 Jul 2016 13:07 UTC
The Prosecutor General's Office of Russian Federation on Petrovka Street, Moscow
© Natalia Seliverstova / Sputnik
The Prosecutor General's Office of Russian Federation on Petrovka Street, Moscow.
Russian prosecutors have completed probes into thousands of cases against foreign citizens and decided to hand over 570 people suspected of committing serious crimes to the countries seeking their extradition.

"Decisions have been made to hand over 570 persons in total," reads the address released by the Prosecutor General's Office on Friday. The document also states that foreign countries have satisfied some of Russia's extradition requests, but does not mention any particular details.

The same report reads that the agency had satisfied over 3,500 requests for legal aid, both from Russian citizens and foreigners.
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Newspaper

US intel head Clapper calls for end to 'hyperventilation' over Russia's alleged role in DNC hack


RT
Fri, 29 Jul 2016 12:59 UTC
U.S. National Intelligence Director James Clapper
© Joshua Roberts / Reuters
The Director of National Intelligence says Washington is still unsure of who might be behind the latest WikiLeaks release of hacked Democratic National Committee emails, while urging that an end be put to the "reactionary mode" blaming it all on Russia.

"We don't know enough to ascribe motivation regardless of who it might have been," Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said speaking at Aspen's Security Forum in Colorado, when asked if the media was getting ahead of themselves in fingering the perpetrator of the hack.

Some 30,000 Democratic National Committee emails were released by WikiLeaks last Friday, exposing the Democratic National Committee's bias in favor of Hillary Clinton.

Comment: Too bad the same couldn't be said about US foreign policy towards Russia.

Snowden claims that the NSA must know who was behind the hack. So why not say, if they 'know' it's Russia? Because it wasn't Russia (at least, not the Russian government/intel community).

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Question

Turkey's Justice Minister: Opposition leader Fetullah Gulen may have left US


FARS News Agency
Fri, 29 Jul 2016 12:45 UTC
Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag
Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said on Thursday he has received exclusive information regarding the departure of Fetullah Gulen from his residency in the United States.

According to the some sources the Turkish opposition leader is believed to have fled to a third country and among his possible destinations are Australia, Mexico, Canada, South Africa or Egypt, Al Masdar reported.

Gulen has been accused by the Turkish regime of orchestrating the July 15th military coup to overthrow the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Prior to the July 15th coup, the Gulen Movement was labeled a terrorist organization by the Turkish government, resulting in its ban all around the country.

Comment: Mexico and Egypt have not received a formal asylum application from Gulen:
Mexico has received no formal request from Turkey in relation to the search of US-based dissident Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen who is accused by Ankara of orchestrating the coup attempt, a source in the Mexican Foreign Ministry told Sputnik.

Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail has denied receiving asylum application from Gulen so far.


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