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Kerry throws fit as Russian and Syrian forces decimate terrorists in Aleppo

Marko Marjanović
Russia Insider
Fri, 17 Jun 2016 01:48 UTC
John Kerry
© Alexander Scherbak/TASS
Speaking yesterday John Kerry, the foreign minister of the US, and one of top fans of Islamist radicals bringing ruin to Syria had something quite interesting to say:
Speaking in Oslo, where he also met Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif for talks on Syria and the Iran nuclear deal, Kerry said Assad's forces had not abided by the truce for a single day in Aleppo.
The Syrian army has not abided by the truce for even a single day?

That's fresh considering that rebels in Aleppo are grouped around Jabhat Al-Nusra that was never part of the cessation of hostilities and kept attacking Syrian government forces, particularly in southern Aleppo. What was the Syrian army to do? Not fire back? It's easy to see Kerry's rebels were driving the fighting there by the fact they consistently made small gains against pro-government forces which were on the defensive -- and occasionally in retreat.

Kerry's insistence that Syrian government is at fault for the failure of the ceasefire regime is all the more deplorable seeing how he is probably the single biggest reason February's cessation of hostilities did not last.
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Dollars

Russia and EU to continue dialog despite sanctions


RT
Fri, 17 Jun 2016 01:28 UTC
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker
© Reuters / Ints Kalnins
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker
Russia and the EU should continue their dialogue despite sanctions, the European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker has said at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov responded by saying that Russia is in favor of an equal, mutually beneficial, but not selective dialogue.

"We can have no illusions about the problems weighing on our relationship today. They exist. It would be pointless, even dangerous, to ignore them. We must tackle them urgently," Juncker said. The dialogue should start with discussing the Minsk agreements, and ensuring the norms and rules of international law, Juncker added.

"Russia's actions have shaken the principles of European security. Sovereignty, sovereign equality, the non-use of force, and territorial integrity matter. They cannot be ignored," he said. As for Ukraine, it should make its own decisions regarding relations with all states, including with Russia and the EU, and the choice should be respected, Juncker said, adding that a stable Ukraine would benefit the Russian economy.


Comment: Seems the power centers in the EU are feeling the consequences of their self-defeating and plain stupid behavior towards Russia. Of course the likes of Juncker aren't going to come right out and say it, but this is pretty close.

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Chess

Former French president Sarkozy: Russia is the strongest player in battle of sanctions, should be first to lift them


RT
Fri, 17 Jun 2016 01:10 UTC
Sarkozy
© AFP 2015/ Charly Triballeau
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has told RT that the West and Russia should lift sanctions to clear the way for a civilized diplomatic effort. He believes that as Russia is "the strongest side of the conflict," it should act first. "I think it's time all the sanctions were lifted, so that diplomacy may regain its rightful position, and we can leave behind this Cold War climate that's in no one's interest," Sarkozy told RT on the sidelines of the 20th International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg.

"Time will be working against us. I'm one of those who think sanctions should be abolished," he said. "We have a lot of other problems and we cannot afford to suffer because of these artificially created problems. And the strongest should reach out a hand, because the strongest player is Russia, represented by President Putin." "I told Putin to make this offer - there's no risk in being the first to make a gesture of goodwill," Sarkozy said, adding that "we will follow the example."


Comment: Unfortunately, NATO does have an interest in fighting Russia, just not in the conventional sense. While Sarkozy has emerged as a bizarre voice of sanity in regards to Russia, it would likely not make sense for Russia to lift their sanctions against Europe while the US is steering the EU in whatever direction it wishes.

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Radar

Grasping at straws: NATO says it may now have grounds to attack Russia

Eric Zuesse
The Saker
Wed, 15 Jun 2016 00:00 UTC
NATO deployment
On Tuesday, June 14th, NATO announced that if a NATO member country becomes the victim of a cyber attack by persons in a non-NATO country such as Russia or China, then NATO's Article V "collective defense" provision requires each NATO member country to join that NATO member country if it decides to strike back against the attacking country. The preliminary decision for this was made two years ago after Crimea abandoned Ukraine and rejoined Russia, of which it had been a part until involuntarily transferred to Ukraine by the Soviet dictator Nikita Khrushchev in 1954. That NATO decision was made in anticipation of Ukraine's ultimately becoming a NATO member country, which still hasn't happened. However, only now is NATO declaring cyber war itself to be included as real "war" under the NATO Treaty's "collective defense" provision.

NATO is now alleging that because Russian hackers had copied the emails on Hillary Clinton's home computer, this action of someone in Russia taking advantage of her having privatized her U.S. State Department communications to her unsecured home computer and of such a Russian's then snooping into the U.S. State Department business that was stored on it, might constitute a Russian attack against the United States of America, and would, if the U.S. President declares it to be a Russian invasion of the U.S., trigger NATO's mutual-defense clause and so require all NATO nations to join with the U.S. government in going to war against Russia, if the U.S. government so decides.

Comment: NATO and its US Empire puppet masters are looking, and searching, and digging... for anything they can think of to throw Russia off balance and put it on the defensive until she cries "Uncle Sam!". But it ain't gonna happen. All the accusations, and all the buildups, and all the bullying in the world will not throw Russia off course of its fighting the terrorists in Syria, keeping Crimea in the Russian Federation and basically defending its right to be a sovereign nation. Western bluster can only go so far though, and we'll soon see how willing the West is to engage in a full-on hot war in order to bring its vicious brand of freedom to the world it doesn't yet lord over.

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Top Secret

No surprise: CIA-run agency recruited Ecuadorian police and military to spy for US


RT
Tue, 14 Jun 2016 14:17 UTC
Rafael Correa
© Rodrigo Buendia/Reuters
Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa
Classified documents uncovered by teleSUR have revealed the CIA was running a now-defunct recruitment base out of Ecuador to hire local police and military to serve US interests in the country.

The documents cited by the pan-Latin American TV channel allege that in 2008 Lebanese national Leila Hadad Perez, holding fake Ecuadorian citizenship, established a recruitment agency that was run by the CIA. Known among the intelligence world by her code name 'Agent Swat', Hadad allegedly exercised great influence over local law enforcement and military using anti-drug operations as a pretext.

The documents, however, show that the project only lasted until 2009, when the US military base in Manta was closed, thanks to President Rafael Correa, who took office in 2007. The agency then lost interest in Ecuador and opted not to renew efforts at destabilizing the government, according to the media report.

However, that is when NGOs, media and opposition groups allegedly came into play. The US Agency for International Development (USAID) was particularly prominent, spending millions of dollars on various projects and employing local politicians and community leaders, according to the teleSUR investigation.

Comment: See also:

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Mr. Potato

Village idiot Kirby: U.S. will 'continue' targeting al-Nusra in Syria


Sputnik
Thu, 16 Jun 2016 23:18 UTC
nusra
© AFP 2016/ Fadi al-Halabi / AMC
Kirby's favorite terrorists.
The United States will continue targeting al-Nusra Front terrorist organization which does not have any role in Syria's political future, US State Department spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Thursday.

Earlier in the day, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the United States appears to have a wish to maintain al-Nusra Front terrorist group in some form in Syria, and use it to achieve its own goals.

"Al-Nusra is a designated terrorist organization, is not a party to the cessation of hostilities and certainly not a part of the political future of Syria. [US] airstrikes against this group will continue," Kirby stated.

Comment: Mr. Kirby, in order for the U.S. to "continue" striking al-Nusra, you would have to have been targeting them already, You haven't. Ergo, you are a slimy, shameless, somewhat mentally deficient liar. Instead, the U.S. has been crying "mommy" whenever Russia and Syria actually target them. You have requested Russia not attack al-Nusra, because "your guys" just happen to fight arm in arm with them. Please, just close your mouth. The world would be a slightly better place.

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Laptop

DNC blames Russia for hack, says no sensitive data taken; actual hacker calls BS, releases docs

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Thu, 16 Jun 2016 22:55 UTC
Schultz
© Joshua Roberts / Reuters
Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
One of the bigger news items to hit yesterday was that the Democratic National Committee accused Russian government hackers of penetrating the DNC's computer network and gaining access to the entire database of opposition research on GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump. The DNC further said that no financial, donor or personal information appears to have been accessed or taken, suggesting that the breach was traditional espionage, not the work of criminal hackers.

It appears that was not entirely true, because barely 24 hours later, the alleged "Russian" hackers has emerged under the Guccifer2 handle, and instead of a group of government operatives and/or spies appears to be a "lone" hacker who incidentally adds, "DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said no financial documents were compromised. Nonsense! Just look through the Democratic Party lists of donors!"

He also denounces the claim that no secret docs were stolen: "They say there were no secret docs! Lies again! Here is a secret document from Hillary's PC she worked with as the Secretary of State."

Comment: From RT:
The hack was initially reported to be the work of the Russian government agencies on Tuesday by CrowdStrike, the cybersecurity firm hired by the DNC to investigate the data breach. Though Guccifer 2.0 insists that he worked alone, the company has stuck to its original story, and suggested that the hacker's posting may be part of a "Russian disinformation campaign."

"We are exploring the documents' authenticity and origin," CrowdStrike co-founder and chief technology officer Dmitri Alperovitch told The Washington Post. "Regardless, these claims do nothing to lessen our findings relating to the Russian government's involvement, portions of which we have documented for the public and the greater security community."
LOL.

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Attention

UK MP Jo Cox dies after being shot and stabbed in broad daylight


The Guardian
Thu, 16 Jun 2016 17:59 UTC
jo cox

Labour MP Jo Cox
The Labour MP Jo Cox has died after being shot and stabbed multiple times following a constituency meeting. Armed officers responded to the attack near a library in Birstall, West Yorkshire, on Thursday afternoon. A 52-year-old man was arrested in the area, police confirmed. The suspect was named locally as Tommy Mair.

Police added that Cox, 41, the MP for Batley and Spen, had suffered serious injuries and was pronounced dead at 1.48pm on Thursday by a doctor with paramedics at the scene.

Police confirmed that a man in his late 40s to early 50s nearby suffered slight injuries in the incident. They are also investigating reports that the suspect shouted "Britain first", a possible reference to the far-right political party of that name, as he launched the attack. Police are understood to be talking to at least one witness who claimed to have heard the attacker shout the words, and the motivation for the incident will form part of their inquiry.

Cox's husband, Brendan, said after her death was announced: "Today is the beginning of a new chapter in our lives. More difficult, more painful, less joyful, less full of love. I and Jo's friends and family are going to work every moment of our lives to love and nurture our kids and to fight against the hate that killed Jo.

Comment: The clumsy method of murder here indicates that it was not so much a targeted assassination, although the timing so close to the EU referendum is interesting, with recent polls showing the pro-Brexit camp in the lead. The Pound Sterling has made gains since the death of Jo Cox, and EU referendum campaigns have been suspended.

It also closely follows the Orlando shooting, among other gun murders since then - could an aspect of 'contagion' be involved?

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Laptop

Cyber warfare: Foreign special services have increased their online operations against Russia


RT
Wed, 15 Jun 2016 20:02 UTC
cyber war
© Rick Wilking / Reuters
The head of Russia's Security Council has said that the number of electronic attacks on Russian state bodies has nearly doubled and reiterated his demand for civil servants to stop using foreign-made messenger services at work.

Nikolay Patrushev told the session of Russia's top consultative body in charge of security that in 2015 over 188 million non-sanctioned attempts to break into internet resources of state and municipal bodies were registered in the Volga Federal District alone. This is a two-fold increase compared to the previous year, he noted.

Patrushev also noted the general increase of foreign special services' activities in the informational sphere, be it pure intelligence work or other activities.

At the same session, Patrushev also returned to the topic that he had been promoting for a long time - the dangers of using foreign-made software and foreign commercial internet services, such as instant messengers, by Russian civil servants. He noted that this allowed criminals and foreign intelligence specialists to access both Russian state secrets in economic and defense sphere and the personal data of Russian citizens.


Comment: That's what the Israelis have been doing to the Americans for decades. Russia would be wise to take measures against such practices. America didn't, and look where it is: a slave to AIPAC.

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Red Flag

The demonization of Vladimir Putin

John White
Counterpunch
Tue, 26 Jan 2016 19:28 UTC
Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Putin is probably the most popular Russian leader there has ever been, polling up around a phenomenal 80% as recently as November 2015 in a study carried out by a team of American researchers. This makes him inarguably the most popular world leader today, though you would think the opposite given the way he's routinely depicted and demonized in the West.

Paradoxically, the main reason for Putin's popularity in Russia is the same reason he's so reviled in the US and Western Europe. It comes down to the simple but salient fact that when it comes to leadership and political nous Vladimir Putin is playing chess while his counterparts in London, Washington, and Paris are playing chequers.
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