Welcome to Sott.net
Mon, 08 Nov 2021
The World for People who Think

Puppet Masters
Map

Nuke

Trump says he'll pull US out of 'unacceptable' nuclear arms deal with Russia


RT
Sat, 20 Oct 2018 20:34 UTC
Trump
© Reuters/Brian Snyder
Nuclear posturing.
The US will pull out of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) with Russia, AP reports President Donald Trump saying. He cited Russia's alleged treaty violations, while at the same time vowing to "develop the weapons."

"We are going to terminate the agreement and then we are going to develop the weapons" unless Russia and China agree to a new deal, Trump said on Saturday. Although Trump claims that Russia has violated the deal, he provided no evidence of that claim during his Saturday announcement.

Trump made the announcement following a campaign stop in Elko, Nevada, just one day after the Guardian reported that National Security Adviser John Bolton was pushing the president to leave the treaty.

Russia has repeatedly said it will keep strictly observing the INF treaty as long as the US does. However, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated in October 2017 that any withdrawal from Washington would see an "immediate and mirror-like" response from Moscow.

Comment: Unfortunately, the 'word' of man is either never good enough nor true long enough. Trust is one of those things that can never be broken in order to remain the goal and binder. When one party fails this test, everyone fails. Trump has left the door open for negotiation.

See also: US should consider consequences of leaving Nuclear Arms Treaty - German Foreign Minister

      Read More...
Russian Flag

DM Shoigu: Russian AF destroyed 122,000 Syrian terrorist targets; militants threaten Asia Pacific region


Sputnik
Sat, 20 Oct 2018 07:46 UTC
Russian bomber
© Sputnik/Dmitriy Vinogradov
Russian SU-24 Bomber
The Russian Aerospace Forces have carried out over 40,000 missions, including over 21,000 sorties during the night time, in the course of their operation in Syria, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said at the fifth ASEAN and Dialogue Partners Defense Ministers Meeting (ADMM-Plus) in Singapore.

"In the course of the military actions, over 122,000 terror targets have been eliminated. The main part of the militants has been killed. In Syria, we have received the vast fighting experience which we are ready to share," Shoigu pointed out.

Peaceful life was being restored in Syria, the defense minister added, noting that over 2,500 settlements across the country have joined the reconciliation process due to the work of the Russian Reconciliation Center in Syria. The key focus of the Middle Eastern country's authorities was on solving humanitarian issues and returning refugees to their homes, the minister noted.

Shoigu also said that the return of militants to the Asia Pacific region after fighting in Syria and Iraq boosts terror threat in Southeast Asia.
"The return of terrorists, who have received fighting experience in Syria and Iraq, to the Asia Pacific region remains an acute problem. They represent the ready force for joining local terror cells... Terrorism becomes the more and more grave threat for Asia Pacific states. This is caused by the activities of the significant number of extremist organizations in Southeast Asia."

Comment: Has the war in Syria been 'a look here not there' bonus to the dispersement of terror cells in other regions? Reports also warn of the spread to Afghanistan, Russia and Europe, nor is the US immune. See also:

      Read More...
Attention

'Information inadequate'! EU takes issue with Riyadh's Khashoggi death tale; Berlin may freeze arms sale


RT
Sun, 21 Oct 2018 21:20 UTC
MerkelKingSalman
© Reuters
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud
Not satisfied with the Saudi story on how journalist Jamal Khashoggi died in Turkey, EU leaders are demanding an in-depth probe, with Germany's foreign minister saying that Berlin shouldn't sell arms to Riyadh until it's finished.

Germany, France, and the EU all said they want more from Saudi Arabia on Saturday, demanding a full investigation and "accountability" over Khashoggi's death.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Paris "condemns this murder in the strongest terms." He noted that while Riyadh's Friday night admission of the journalist's death is the "first step toward the establishment of truth," many questions still remain.

"The information available about events in the Istanbul consulate is inadequate," said a joint statement of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Heiko Maas. They expect transparency and more answers from Riyadh about the circumstances surrounding the suspicious death, widely painted in media reports as a gruesome murder.

Maas stated separately that Berlin should not approve arms sales to Saudi Arabia until investigations into Khashoggi's death are completed. "So long as investigations are underway, so long as we don't know what happened there, there is no reason to take positive decisions on arms exports to Saudi Arabia," he told German public television's Tagesthemen program.

Comment: Denunciation and isolation seems to be the current sentiment, along with demands for unadulterated answers. Interesting how otherwise covertly evil countries become self-righteous when faced with a particularly horrific example of singular cruelty and deadly malice.

      Read More...
Bizarro Earth

Ukraine secretly turning Mariupol industrial area into a military base

Valentina Prokofieva
Source
Sun, 21 Oct 2018 17:29 UTC
secret Mariupol military base
© dan-news.info-DAN
The Armed Forces of Ukraine secretly turn the Mariupol plant into a military base
The Armed Forces of Ukraine deployed weapons on the territory of the civil and industrial infrastructure of Mariupol.

The official representative of the operational command of the DPR, Eduard Basurin, at a briefing, said that the Armed Forces of Ukraine (Armed Forces of Ukraine) secretly deployed weapons and ammunition in the territory of the civil and industrial infrastructure of Mariupol.

"According to the DPR intelligence information, in the city of Mariupol, on the territory of the Ilyich Metallurgical Plant, 20 units of T-80 tanks, 50 armored personnel carriers, 20 mortars, 14 Gvozdika self-propelled self-propelled guns and 8 D- 30 ", - said Eduard Basurin.

According to the representative of the DPR, the most suspicious and alarming fact is that this information is not reflected in any way in the official reports of the OSCE mission.

Comment: Defense One reported in September:
On Thursday, September 27, Ukrainian officials will take possession of two U.S. Coast Guard Island-class cutters in Baltimore. The transfer comes amid budding maritime hostilities that Ukrainian officials worry may herald a second wave of aggressive Russian military action.

Russia maintains a large naval base in Sevastopolon the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, which Moscow illegally seized in 2014. Around August 14, Russia began what many call a blockade of the Kerch Strait, the narrow body that connects the Azov with the Black Sea.

"Experts in Ukraine say this could be the next [Russian] operation from this flank, from the sea, near Mariupol," Valeriy Chaly, Ukraine's ambassador to the U.S., said in an August interview at the Ukrainian embassy.

U.S. and Ukrainian officials say Russian military activity has also been increasing in the Azov Sea, which Ukraine and Russia legally share under treaties signed in 2003.


      Read More...
Broom

Saudis now playing dumb - don't know how Khashoggi was killed, where his body is


RT
Sun, 21 Oct 2018 16:34 UTC
khashoggi msb protest
© AFP / Jim Watson
Riyadh doesn't know how Khashoggi was killed or where his body is, Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told Fox News, just one day after his country claimed the journalist was killed in a "fistfight" inside the consulate in Istanbul.

Jubeir once again stressed that the crown prince was "not aware" of Khashoggi's killing, which he dubbed a "tremendous mistake."

He added that his country is working on determining what exactly happened and where Khashoggi's body is. He said the Saudi probe was initially prompted by conflicting reports of whether the journalist left the consulate in Istanbul.

Jubeir also said that Riyadh wants to hold anyone responsible for Khashoggi's death to account.

It comes just one day after Saudi Arabia stated that Khashoggi had died in a "fistfight" in the consulate, with authorities announcing the detention of 18 suspects in the case.


Comment: The Trump admin may not be willing to pass any premature sanctions (Russia didn't get that courtesy), but others in the government are not pleased with the delay:
However, Senator Martin Heinrich (D-New Mexico) is among those who aren't happy with Mnuchin's apparent willingness to push Khashoggi's death to one side and continue talking oil with Riyadh as normal. Earlier on Sunday, he called for the US to ban Saudi oil imports over the journalist's death.

"The United States cannot allow this gross human rights violation to go unanswered," the Democratic senator said in a statement. "I am therefore calling for a ban on oil imports from Saudi Arabia until the highest levels of Saudi government are held accountable for their actions."

Heinrich also took aim at Donald Trump in his statement, saying that the US president "would rather embrace denials and cover-ups rather than hold those responsible accountable."

Meanwhile, Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) told CNN on Sunday that he believes Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman is behind the death of Khashoggi. "If he's gone forth and murdered this journalist, he's now crossed the line and there has to be a punishment and a price paid for that," he said. "Do I think he did it? Yes, I think he did it," he added, noting that there should be a "collective" response from Western countries if that is the case.

Although Trump largely held back his criticism of Riyadh following its Saturday admission, referring to it once again as a "great ally," he later decided he wasn't satisfied with the information that had been provided by Saudi Arabia after all - after the EU, France, and Germany did the same.


      Read More...
Snowflake

Some nationalist! Scottish First Minister Sturgeon boycotts BBC event coz Bannon will be there


RT
Sun, 21 Oct 2018 14:24 UTC
A collage of Nicola Sturgeon and Steve Bannon.
© Russell Cheyne / Reuters / Don Emmert / AFP
A collage of Nicola Sturgeon and Steve Bannon.
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has pulled out of a BBC-sponsored event over controversial ex-WH chief strategist Steve Bannon. The broadcaster says that inviting representatives of various opinions is part of journalism.

Sturgeon was slated to appear at the opening reception of the annual News Xchange conference in November. The three-day Edinburgh event is organized by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and co-hosted by the BBC. Bannon, political strategist and prominent right-wing thinker, is scheduled to deliver remarks in a separate venue - in an event, moderated by BBC Scotland's Sarah Smith.

"I will not be part of any process that risks legitimizing or normalizing far right, racist views," Sturgeon wrote on Twitter on Saturday, confirming earlier reports that she will be ditching the event over Bannon.
      Read More...
Star of David

International criticism forces Israel to 'temporarily' freeze plans to raze Palestinian village


The New Arab
Sun, 21 Oct 2018 16:11 UTC
protester Khan al-Ahmar
© Getty
A protester at the village of Khan al-Ahmar
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has temporarily frozen plans to demolish a strategically located Bedouin village in the occupied West Bank after international criticism.

Israeli plans to demolish a strategically located Bedouin village in the occupied West Bank have been postponed after drawing international concern, the prime minister's office said on Sunday.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu froze the planned demolition in Khan al-Ahmar, a small village located east of Jerusalem along a road leading to the Dead Sea, which Israeli authorities claimed was built illegally.

"The intention is to give a chance to the negotiations and the offers we received from different bodies, including in recent days," a statement from Netanyahu's office said about Khan al-Ahmar.

Comment:

      Read More...
War Whore

US leaving INF puts nuclear non-proliferation at risk, may lead to 'complete chaos'


RT
Sun, 21 Oct 2018 12:43 UTC
Pershing IA missile launcher and RSD-10 Pioneer (SS-20) missile
© Wikimedia Commons / RIA Novosti / Sputnik
Pershing IA missile launcher and RSD-10 Pioneer (SS-20) missile.
If the US ditches the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), it could collapse the entire nuclear non-proliferation system, and bring nuclear war even closer, Russian officials warn.

By ending the INF, Washington risks creating a domino effect which could endanger other landmark deals like the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) and collapse the existing non-proliferation mechanism as we know it, senior lawmaker Konstantin Kosachev said on Sunday.

The current iteration of the START treaty, which limits the deployment of all types of nuclear weapons, is due to expire in 2021. Kosachev, who chairs the Parliament's Upper House Foreign Affairs Committee, warned that such an outcome pits mankind against "complete chaos in terms of nuclear weapons."

Comment: Senator Rand Paul wasn't too keen on the idea of pulling out of the INF Treaty either:
The decision "would undo decades of bipartisan arms control dating from [US President Ronald] Reagan," Republican Senator Rand Paul tweeted.
Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev also criticized the move:
Giving his take on President Donald Trump's ambitious plan to scrap the historic Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), one of the "fathers" of the accord berated the current US leader.

"It's completely unacceptable to break the old treaties on disarmament," Gorbachev told Interfax.

Doubling down on his criticism, the first and only president of the Soviet Union said: "It can't be that hard to understand that discarding such agreements 'is narrow-minded,' as they say." Gorbachev said Trump's move is a mistake which would "undermine all the efforts, made by the leaders of the USSR and the US itself to reach nuclear disarmament."
Berlin is also warning against the decision:
President Donald Trump must think twice and carefully assess all consequences before finally tearing up the landmark nuclear disarmament agreement (INF) with Russia, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas warned on Sunday.

"We now urge the U.S. to consider the possible consequences," Maas said in a statement, hailing the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) as "an important pillar of our European security architecture."
...
Niels Annen, minister of state at the Federal Foreign Office, called Trump's idea "devastating," stressing that his own nation will remain committed to nuclear disarmament. The minister also called on other EU states to prevent mid-range missiles from reappearing on the continent.


      Read More...
SOTT Logo Radio

NewsReal: Saudi Arabia: A Wretched Hive of Scum And Villainy, Fully Supported by The West


Sott.net
Sun, 21 Oct 2018 16:00 UTC
saudi
The murder and dismembering of Saudi opposition journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul is now all but admitted by the Saudi regime. The deed was so brazen and gruesome, we wondered in our last show if 'rogue operators' did it in order to frame the Saudi Crown Prince, aka MBS. Trump apparently heard us because he subsequently suggested the same, before reminding the world that Saudi money trumps all.

The Faustian Pact between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia - carved out of the Ottoman Empire under the cover of WW1 - and the British, then US, empires in the early 20th century is so fundamental to Western hegemony that it will not be undone, much less 'transformed' or impeded in any way, by public outcry over the fact that the West keeps serial killers for friends.

This week on NewsReal, Joe & Niall discuss the very public exposure of Western 'values', which turn out not to be democracy, human rights and a rules-based global order, but love of money, lust for power, and sadistic cruelty.


Running Time: 01:23:20

Download: MP3

      Read More...
Snakes in Suits

"The tectonic shifts" of the world's economies according to top investor

Lauren Rublin
Barrons.com
Sun, 21 Oct 2018 15:23 UTC
Felix Zulauf

Felix Zulauf
Felix Zulauf was a member of the Barron's Roundtable for about 30 years, until relinquishing his seat at our annual investment gathering in 2017. While his predictions were more right than wrong, it was the breadth of his knowledge and the depth of his analysis of global markets that won him devoted fans among his Roundtable peers, the crew at Barron's, and beyond. Simply put, Felix, president of Zulauf Asset Management in Baar, Switzerland, always knew-and still knows-better than most how to connect the dots among central bankers' actions, fiscal policies, currency gyrations, geopolitics, and the price of assets, hard and soft.

With interest rates rising, governments in flux, and the world's two biggest economies facing off over trade, it seemed the right time to ask him how today's turmoil will impact investors in the year ahead. Ever gracious, he shared his thoughts and best investment bets in an interview this past week. Read on for the view from Baar.

Barron's: Felix, how have you been keeping busy since you left the Roundtable?

Felix Zulauf: I'm still running money, but it's my own money, and I'm still a consultant to investors and institutions. I'm in the market almost every day. I like analyzing the world; the tectonic shifts occurring make it too fascinating to quit.

Comment: See also: And check out SOTT radio's:

      Read More...
Amazon Smile
Revolt! T-shirts