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Putin explains why Russia can afford to spend less on defense


Sputnik
Tue, 12 Nov 2019 17:28 UTC
putin
© Sputnik / Mikhail Klimentyev
Russia is one of just a handful of major military powers to actually make cuts to its defence spending in recent years, and recently dropped out of the top five countries in terms of total spending.

Reductions in Russia's defence spending are related to the country passing the "peak of modernisation," allowing the government to contribute fewer resources while maintaining the same level of defence, President Vladimir Putin has said.
"[Cuts] aren't related to us letting things slide when it comes to these issues, but due to the fact that the main planned initiatives connected to the need to intensify work on ensuring the country's security...and with regard to the need to ensure the renewal of military equipment and hardware, and we have passed the peak of this work," Putin said, speaking at a government meeting on Monday.
Putin noted that Russia's military-industrial complex will need to continue its efforts to create high-tech, competitive equipment, and not resort to "making pots and pans" (i.e. engage low-tech civilian production) as it had to in the 1990s.
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Chess

MSM Adamantly Avoids the Word 'Coup' in Bolivia Reporting

Caitlin Johnstone
Medium
Sun, 10 Nov 2019 17:22 UTC
morales resign
There has been a military coup in Bolivia backed by violent right-wing rioters and the US government, but you'd hardly know this from any of the mainstream media headlines.
"Bolivian President Evo Morales steps down following accusations of election fraud" proclaims CNN.

"Bolivia's Morales resigns amid scathing election report, rising protests" reports The Washington Post.

"Bolivian Leader Evo Morales Steps Down" says The New York Times.

"Bolivian President Evo Morales resigns amid fraud poll protests" declares the BBC.

"President of Bolivia steps down amid allegations of election rigging" we are informed by Telegraph.

"Bolivia's President Morales resigns after backlash to disputed election" says the Sydney Morning Herald.
So there you have it. The indigenous leader of a socialist South American government which has successfully lifted masses of people out of crushing poverty, which happens to control the world's largest reserves of lithium (which may one day replace oil as a crucial energy resource due to its use in powering smartphones, laptops, hybrid and electric cars), which has an extensive and well-documented history of being targeted for regime change by the US government, simply stepped down due to some sort of scandal involving a "disputed election". Nothing to do with the fact that right-wing mobs had been terrorizing this leader's family, or the fact that the nation's military literally commanded him to step down and are now currently searching for him to arrest him, leading to ousted government officials being rounded up and held captive by soldiers wearing masks.

All perfectly normal and not suspicious at all.
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War Whore

Stick a fork in detente: We're just about done

Phil Butler
New Eastern Outlook
Sun, 10 Nov 2019 17:16 UTC
trump
Our world is burning down around us, but we're so accustomed to smoke and flames we only feel the heat warming us. Every day for a decade now I've researched and analyzed the media, geopolitics and public relations, and I've decided we cannot save Earth. For a moment there was hope. The defiant strength of Russia's Putin against the liberal order, it seemed for a brief instant that truth and decency might prevail. It cannot happen though, for the coming inferno of discontent is truly biblical, alas.

I know the reader is questioning now. "What is he saying? America's economy has never been stronger," I can just hear the Trump triumphant begin to chant angrily. In Russia, the voices will be saying; "But Putin has won. He showed them in Syria. Didn't he destroy ISIS for the world?" No, my friends, I fear the war for peace and decency is a lost cause even with these small victories in view. Let me explain, as best I can, how the cataclysm will come no matter what.

I was reading this morning a Sputnik story on the peculiar case of the U.S. Ambassador to Greece, Geoffrey Pyatt. While I don't usually pay Sputnik a sideways glance these days, the focus on America's worst diplomat made me do it. Read Sputnik, that is. The piece spoke volumes about a man who should rightfully have been drummed out of America's diplomatic corps after Ukraine. For those unfamiliar with Pyatt, who is busy selling out the Greeks today, he helped foment a coup d'etat in Kyiv in 2014, and then he and Victoria Nuland joked about "fucking the EU" and danced on the graves of thousands of Russian speaking Ukrainians.
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Broom

Clingon Clinton interferes in UK election, demands Downing Street release fake intel report about 'Russian meddling'


RT
Tue, 12 Nov 2019 16:43 UTC
hillary
© Reuters / Simon Dawson / File
Hillary Clinton promoting her book in London
Not content to beat the 'Russiagate' drum in the US, Hillary Clinton has used a book tour in the UK to sound the alarm about supposed Russian interference in British politics. Critics say her tour is election meddling in itself.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson's office has refused to publish an Intelligence and Security Committee report into supposed Russian meddling in the 2016 Brexit vote until after next month's general election. Though critics have accused Johnson of "sitting on" the report to hide Conservative collusion with Russia, insider sources say it reveals no evidence of interference.

Enter Hillary Clinton. The failed 2016 US presidential candidate - who has repeatedly blamed the Kremlin for her loss at the ballot box to Donald Trump - called the PM's delay "shameful," and said she is "dumbfounded that this Government won't release the report about Russian influence."

Comment: This phony report is from the same people who brought you the Golden Shower dossier - British intelligence. There's nothing to it of course, but Her Majesty's finest dangled it out there precisely for hardbroiled nuts like Clinton to 'cite' as 'evidence' of 'Russian meddling'.

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Propaganda

BBC backtracks on their own fake news - claims regarding Istanbul death of White Helmets co-founder are deleted

Damian Wilson
RT
Tue, 12 Nov 2019 16:16 UTC
ames Le Mesurier white helmets founder
© Twitter / James Le Mesurier
James Le Mesurier
The death of the White Helmets co-founder, British mercenary James Le Mesurier, instantly led to suggestions of Russian involvement from the BBC. They deleted the rumours from Twitter too late, the fire of conspiracy was aflame.

The war in Syria has claimed an estimated 400,000 victims since it began and now British military contractor James Le Mesurier, could join their ranks after his death in Istanbul last night. Or maybe not.

The key supporter of the White Helmets, a group of first-responders who have been operating in the middle of the Syrian war, reportedly fell from his apartment balcony and died. The circumstances of his death are not yet clear.

Comment:

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Oil Well

US congressional panel: Next phase of dirty war on Syria is occupying oil fields, blocking reconstruction

Ben Norton
The Gray Zone
Tue, 05 Nov 2019 00:00 UTC
DanaStroul/Syria rubble
© Hummam Sheikh Ali/Global Look Press/Screenshot/KJN
Dana Stroul • Syrian rubble
A DC foreign-policy apparatchik who oversaw Congress' Syria Study Group proclaimed that the US military "owned" one-third of Syrian territory, including its "economic powerhouse," then outlined a sadistic strategy for preventing reconstruction of the "rubble."

Despite President Donald Trump's order of a partial withdrawal of troops from Syria, the United States' regime-change war against the country continues in broad daylight.

At a US government-funded think tank at the forefront of shaping Washington's interventionist designs, an American official succinctly laid out the continued-regime change strategy.

Dana Stroul, a longtime US diplomat who oversaw a congressionally mandated study of Syria, outlined the four-pronged plan for what she called the "new phase" of the war:
  • US military occupation of Syria's "resource-rich" "economic powerhouse";
  • "Diplomatic isolation" of the Syrian government;
  • Economic sanctions against Damascus and its allies; and
  • "Preventing reconstruction aid and technical expertise from going back into Syria."
It is beyond debate that this approach will lead to massive suffering, privation, and even the deaths of masses of Syrians. But when Stroul presented it before a panel, the potential impact on civilians was was not even mentioned once.

Comment: Norton offers a chilling glimpse into one of the think tank control mechanisms dictating US policy.

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Star of David

Ready for execution, the former Israeli general's quest for a new Gaza war

Ramzy Baroud
Palestine Responds
Sun, 10 Nov 2019 00:00 UTC
Gantz Neti Gaza
© Mustafa Hassona.Anadolu Agency/Facebook/Xinhua/JINI/Gideon Markowicz/IANS/KJN
Benny Gantz • Benjamin Netanyahu • Er-Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City after Israeli airstrikes across Gaza Strip, 25 March 2019
Benny Gantz, the leader of Israel's newly-founded Kahol Lavan - the Blue and White Party - is the rising star of Israeli politics. The fact that he has the opportunity to finally oust long-serving Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, speaks volumes about the appeal of his political message, his charisma, and his growing credibility among many social sectors in Israel.

Gantz's rival, Netanyahu, is a polarizing character in Israel, as well as in the United States.

'Bibi's' special relationship with the American President, Donald Trump, made him either loved or hated by most Americans. According to a February 2017 Gallup poll, 65% of all Republicans view Netanyahu favorably, while only 18% of Democrats share that view.

But Netanyahu is not just the archetypical, devious and self-serving politician, he is able to inflict immense damage as well. He has launched major wars on Gaza and used military force, and blockades on civilian populations to serve his own limited political agenda and to simply garner votes. While avo'wedly racist, Netanyahu's racism often flares during election seasons to galvanize his ardent far-right supporters.
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Bullseye

Expectations: Horowitz report will be damning and contain criminal referrals

Sara Carter
saraacarter.com
Mon, 11 Nov 2019 00:00 UTC
IG Michael Horowitz
© YouTube
Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz
Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz's much anticipated report on his investigation into the FBI's probe into President Trump's campaign is expected to be made public before Thanksgiving and the outcome is alleged to contain several criminal referrals, according to sources who spoke with SaraACarter.com.

Horowitz's investigation on the bureau's probe into the now debunked theory that Trump colluded with Russia in the 2016 presidential election will more than likely result in the declassification of documents — requested by senior Republican lawmakers for more than several years. These are the same documents President Trump turned over to Attorney General William Barr in May, giving him 'full and complete authority" to declassify.

Those documents will contain:
Several classified pages of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act on former Trump campaign advisor Carter Page,

Exculpatory evidence that was withheld from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court,

The so-called 'Gang of Eight' folder (which contained exculpatory information), as well as

The email chain between FBI investigators in the Russia probe and then-FBI Director James Comey.

Comment: How deep and thorough do any of the investigations extend? The reports to the public will only address the surface plots, not the puppeteers. Few Americans will make this differentiation and even fewer will ask.

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Arrow Down

Tehran rejects IAEA reports of uranium traces at Netanyahu-labeled 'Secret Atomic Warehouse'


Sputnik
Sun, 10 Nov 2019 19:11 UTC
IranianSpokesman
© AFP/Atta Kenare
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly accused Iran of clandestinely building nuclear weapons alleging that Iran has a nuclear facility that once contained radioactive material. Iran dismisses Israel's claims, saying that Islam prohibits the production and use of nuclear weapons.

Iran has dismissed findings by the International Atomic Energy Agency pointing to the presence of uranium traces at an unnamed Iranian facility that Israel believes to have contained radioactive materials before being removed.

"The Zionist regime and Israel are attempting to re-open ... this file," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said as broadcast by state TV. "We have announced that this is a trap. Hopefully the IAEA will maintain its vigilance."

On Wednesday, the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran (AEOI) confirmed media reports that it had prevented an IAEA inspector from examining the Natanz plant. According to the AEOI, the security equipment at the facility's entrance had shown the presence of suspicious materials among the inspector's belongings.

Comment: See also:

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Arrow Down

Trump fired, demoted or suspended more than 8K veterans affairs employees since taking office

Charlie Spiering
Breitbart
Mon, 11 Nov 2019 00:00 UTC
Vet Affairs Dept
© AP/Charles Dharapak
Veterans Affairs Department, Washington D.C.
President Donald Trump has relieved over 8,000 Veterans Affairs employees for failing their duty since becoming the president, according to VA Secretary Robert Wilkie.

"The standard is if you don't live up to your oath if you don't live up to the standards that our veterans expect, that you will be asked to leave," Wilkie told reporters in a press conference on Friday. "This is a transformational moment in our history."

Wilkie said accountability was a signature promise from President Trump, particularly after the Veterans Affairs scandals in Phoenix in 2014 and 2015. Under Trump, he said, VA employees as high as network directors down to the lowest employees were removed for not performing their job to the proper standards.

"This is, I think, one of the strongest statements that we can make: That it is a new day at VA," Wilkie said.

Comment: See also:

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