Welcome to Sott.net
Wed, 27 Oct 2021
The World for People who Think

Puppet Masters
Map

Airplane

Mystery drone spotted flying over Belgium's nuclear plant


thenewsnigeria.com.ng
Sat, 20 Dec 2014 14:49 UTC
predator drone
© Kirsty Wigglesworth/Associated Press
A mystery drone was spotted flying over a Belgium nuclear facility on Saturday, local authorities said, a day after one of the plant's reactors came back on line after a four-month closure caused by sabotage.

The mystery appearance by an unmanned aircraft, on which Belgian authorities refused to provide much detail, resembles a spate of similar drone sightings over nuclear plants in neighbouring France this autumn.

Around 20 unidentified drones have been spotted over nuclear plants since October throughout France.

"We can confirm that the East Flanders prosecutor's office has opened an investigation into a drone flight over the Doel nuclear plant," a spokesman for the investigation told Belga news agency.

"We will not provide further information for the time being," the spokesman added, hours after the plant's operator, GDF-Suez unit Electrabel, first disclosed the incident, which took place early Saturday.

The imposing Doel nuclear site sits on a riverbank near the North Sea about 25 kilometres (15 miles) north of Antwerp. It holds four of Belgium's seven reactors.

One of those reactors, Doel 4, was shut urgently in August after a leak, caused by tampering, gushed out 65,000 litres of oil lubricant.

A steam turbine weighing 1,700 tonnes was severely damaged by the loss of lubricant, requiring a 30-million-euro ($37-million) repair job that was carried out in Germany.

Comment: Is someone trying to keep pressure on the Belgian government?

      Read More...
X

IDF is itching for another round of slaughter and strikes Gaza in retaliation to rocket fire


RT
Fri, 19 Dec 2014 23:08 UTC
Image
© Reuters/Amir Cohen
An Israeli air force F-15 fighter jet
The Israeli Defense Forces have launched an attack on Gaza allegedly striking a weapons cache near Khan Yunis in retaliation to a rocket fired from Gaza earlier in the day.

There were at least two strikes by the Israeli Air Force, Jerusalem Post reports. Residents reported hearing two explosions in an "area that contains training sites for Palestinian militants," according to AP. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

The attack allegedly comes in retaliation to a rocket fired from Gaza earlier in the day into an open territory near the Eshkol Regional Council.

"The IDF will not permit any attempt to undermine the security and jeopardize the well being of the civilians of Israel. The Hamas terrorist organization is responsible and accountable for today's attack against Israel," said the IDF Spokesman, Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, cited by Haaretz.

Comment: Notice that as usual no one claimed responsibility (except when a new and "unknown before" terror group suddenly does that). Read the following articles to understand why.

      Read More...
Magnify

The return of US-Cuba relations: An unlikely victory for Cuba

Alexander Mercouris
Sputnik
Sat, 20 Dec 2014 11:43 UTC
The announcement by the Obama administration in the United States of the re-opening of diplomatic relations with Cuba shows that the contest between the irresistible force and the immovable obstacle has been won by the latter.
Image
© Reuters/Enrique De La Osa
The restoration of diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States has provoked enormous interest.

This is in no way surprising. Since the rupture in diplomatic relations in 1961 the United States and Cuba have been the most consistent adversaries on the international stage.

In that period relations between the United States and other countries with which it has had adversarial relationships such as Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, Iraq or Vietnam, have gone through ups and downs. This has not been true of relations between the United States and Cuba. Relations between them have always been bad.

This hostility between the United States and Cuba has been one of the most stable factors in international relations over the last half-century. Though its effect in Europe and elsewhere is mitigated by distance, this hostility has had an enormous influence in shaping the present political geography of Latin America especially.

The possibility that this hostility may change has therefore come to many people as a surprise if only because the general expectation was that there would be no significant improvement in relations between the two countries at least until the two Castro brothers, Fidel and Raul, had died.

What explains this enduring hostility and this abrupt shift in relations? Will it endure or is it as many appear to think a trap the United States has laid for Cuba preparing the grounds for regime change there?


Comment: To read more about such analysis of the renewed U.S.-Cuba ties see: The implications of renewed US-Cuba ties


The breakdown in relations between the United States and Cuba was the consequence of the Castro Revolution of 1959. This was a revolution launched from the countryside against a corrupt oligarchic elite based in Havana.

That elite in turn had extremely close connections with the United States. These extended back decades to Cuba's liberation war against Spain in the 1890s. The United States intervened in that war in a manner that achieved for it a dominant position in Cuba right up to the point of Castro's revolution in 1959. It would not be an exaggeration to say that throughout this period Cuba was essentially a protectorate of the United States.

Comment: See also: Cuba not returning to capitalism despite U.S. deal: Castro's daughter
Cuba will defend its socialist principles and will not return to capitalism just because it has agreed a detente with the United States, the daughter of President Raul Castro said, dispelling any notion that U.S. companies would be free to roll into Cuba.


      Read More...
Handcuffs

U.S. sends four Guantanamo prisoners home to Afghanistan

Matt Spetalnick
Reuters
Sat, 20 Dec 2014 00:02 UTC
Image
© Reuters/Bob Strong
The frontier road parallels the security fence leading to the Northeast gate at Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base, March 8, 2013.
Four Afghans held for over a decade at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have been sent home, the Pentagon said on Saturday, the latest step in a gradual push by the Obama administration to close the jail.

The men were flown to Kabul overnight aboard a U.S. military plane and released to Afghan authorities, the first such transfer of its kind to the war-torn country since 2009.

With the repatriation of the four Afghans, Guantanamo's detainee population has been whittled down to 132. Several more prisoners of "various nationalities" are expected to be transferred before the end of the year and a further unspecified number in succeeding weeks, according to a senior U.S. official.

Obama promised to shut the internationally condemned prison when he took office nearly six years ago, citing the damage it inflicted on America's image around the world. But he has been unable to do so, partly because of obstacles posed by Congress.

Comment: So now if there is an upswing of fighting insurgents in Afghanistan, the US can say "see, it's because we released those prisoners". Closing the prison is a good thing but it is too little too late to clean up the US's reputation around the world.

      Read More...
2 + 2 = 4

Stratfor head: Yanukovich overthrow "most blatant coup in history"

Eric Zuesse
Washington's Blog
Sat, 20 Dec 2014 00:00 UTC
stratfor
In a December 19th interview in the Russian magazine Kommersant, George Friedman, who is the Founder and CEO of Stratfor, the 'Shadow CIA' firm, says of the overthrow of Ukraine's President Viktor Yanukovych that occurred on February 22nd of 2014: "It really was the most blatant coup in history." Perhaps he is saying this because of the videos that were uploaded to the Web which showed it to be so, but this statement by him contradicts the description that is asserted by the U.S. White House and the European Union, and the Western press, which description is that Yanukovych's overthrow was instead just the result of the U.S. Government's $5+ billion expense since 1991 to establish 'democracy' in Ukraine.

Friedman further says that "The Russian authorities can not tolerate a situation in which western armed forces will be [in Ukraine] a hundred kilometers from Kursk or Voronezh [in Russia]", and that the goal of the U.S. is to "maintain the balance of power in Europe, helping the weaker party," which he says is Europe. He furthermore says, "The United States considers the most dangerous potential alliance to be between Russia and Germany. This would be an alliance of German technology and capital with Russian natural and human resources." So: the U.S. is trying to antagonize Germans against Russia. This will weaken both of them. However, that would be not a "balance of power" but an increasing imbalance of power in favor of the United States. The Russian interviewer failed to catch his inconsistency on that.

Comment: Funny how the truth seeps out of the most unexpected places! More on Stratfor:

      Read More...
Network

North Korea says it can prove it wasn't behind Sony hack


RT
Sat, 20 Dec 2014 16:23 UTC
Kim Jong Un
© Reuters/KCNA
Kim Jong Un
North Korea has proposed a joint investigation with the United States into the hack attack against Sony Pictures, according to the state news agency, KCNA.

The offer comes as the FBI formally accused Pyongyang of the attack on Friday and US President Barack Obama promised to "respond proportionally" to the online breach.

North Korea says it can prove it has nothing to do with the cyberattack on Sony, the KCNA news release said.

Comment: Certainly it's no mere coincidence that just as the US is 'considering' putting North Korea back on the list of state sponsors of terror an attack is made on a US corporation that the FBI blames on North Korea, with no evidence mind you. Perhaps it has something to do with North Korea broadening cooperation with Russia to prevent dangerous military activities? At the same time, this phony 'terrorist' hack makes for the perfect headline to bury the latest Israeli offensive.

      Read More...
Eiffel Tower

SOTT EXCLUSIVE: Is President Hollande growing a spine? French leader calls for scaling back economic war against Russia

Aeneas Georg
Sott.net
Sat, 20 Dec 2014 11:20 UTC
Two weeks ago, French president Hollande decided to make an impromptu visit to Russia's president Putin. The visit in itself was, if not courageous, at least different from Western leaders' previous tactics of isolating the Russian president. The good mood of the Russian president made people wonder if something had happened and whether Hollande had been cured of the Bulgarian symptoms.

Hollande Putin
© EPA/LETA
Has Hollande after the meeting with Putin started to stand up and act in favour of the interests of his country?
At the Brussels summit, which finished yesterday, it was Hollande who voiced the desire to scale back the sanctions regime on Russia. In doing so, he caused a split in EU unity, as Bloomberg reported:
Europe stumbled into a debate over the end of sanctions on the economically distressed Russia after French President Francois Hollande became the first major leader to dangle the prospect of easing the curbs. [...]

Hollande urged the EU to offer early "de-escalation" to reward expected peace overtures by Russian President Vladimir Putin in eastern Ukraine, while others including German Chancellor Angela Merkel put off sanctions relief until a settlement emerges.
It's obvious that the sanctions would hurt the EU badly, but that has been known all along by anyone with two neurons firing, so the timing by the French President is interesting, especially given that Canada and the US have announced a new round of sanctions on Russia, although they have yet to be implemented:
Hollande warned that declining demand from Russia knocks out one of the props of Europe's economy.
No doubt! But the fact that a major European leader dared to question the sanctions regime is significant and made it easier for others to follow suit:
Europe's divisions were on display yesterday, with Austria joining the call for early sanctions relief and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi saying: "New sanctions? Absolutely no!"
That Poland and the Baltic states want tougher sanctions, or at least to keep the existing sanctions, shouldn't come as any surprise, but their voice in the EU does not carry much weight.
      Read More...
Attention

Paul Craig Roberts - Russia's black swan card(s) and the end of NATO

Paul Craig Roberts
King World News
Sat, 20 Dec 2014 16:54 UTC
financial collapse economic
Today Dr. Paul Craig Roberts warned King World News that the Russians are going to unleash what he called the "ultimate black swan" against the West. Dr. Roberts also discussed how a terrifying series of events would then bring the Western financial system to it knees as the banking system completely collapses.

Dr. Roberts: "I was listening to the news today and there were all these self-righteous people just happy as all get out that they had finally stomped Russia into the ground and 'Russia is now finished,' and Russia was broken and 'would soon be an American vassal state where it belongs.' And I was listening to this rot and got to thinking, 'How can people be so utterly stupid?' But they are, and they are just as stupid in Washington.

And in the meantime, as part of this process, Eric, we may see Russia unleash the predicted black swans that bring down the Western house of cards...

"Suppose the Russian government says, 'Well, since the attack on the ruble is political and you guys are attacking the ruble and causing us so much trouble, we are just not going to pay off the next tranche of our debt that comes due early in 2015.'

Comment: Paul Craig Roberts gives a shrewd assessment of the political and economic maneuvering between Russia and Washington. When the facts are laid out it's clear Washington is operating from a fantasy world. Unfortunately, the rest of us in the real world will have to live with the consequences.

      Read More...
Info

Israel bombs Gaza in alleged response to a rocket attack


Sputnik
Sat, 20 Dec 2014 16:25 UTC
Image
© Unknown
The Israeli military forces have conducted the first airstrikes on targets in Gaza Strip after the August ceasefire agreement, the BBC Israel reports.

Residents of the Khan Yunis area in Gaza reported hearing two explosions, the Associated Press news agency said.

The attack was carried out on a Hamas infrastructure site in response to a rocket, fired from Gaza several hours earlier, a statement from the Israeli defense reads.

No casualties were reported as a result of the attack.

Israel and Palestine agreed on an open-ended ceasefire, brokered by the Egyptian government, on August 26.

The truce followed an escalation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which happened in June after Israel laid the blame for the death of three Israeli schoolboys on Hamas, a radical Palestinian Islamic organization and the de facto authority in Gaza. In response, Israel launched its operation "Protective Edge." Over 50 days of hostilities, 2,100 Palestinians and 73 Israelis lost their lives.

Comment: Recently, EU took Hamas off their list of "terrorist" organizations and the Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon responded with the following:
The Israeli army might be forced to attack Gaza again, said the Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon on Tuesday, according to the army's radio channel.

Ya'alon met with Israeli soldiers and told them that they need to be ready for another war in Gaza anytime, the Israeli news radio reported. Ya'alon reportedly said, "The army might be forced to attack Gaza with all its power."
And something to keep in mind whenever you hear about 'Hamas Rockets.'
The false image of Palestinians as 'terrorists' who want to 'destroy Israel' is promoted by Israel as a bulwark against the emergence of a genuine movement for Palestinian rights that can be accepted internationally. To perpetuate the idea that Paestinian = terrorist, Israel has to launch periodic 'anti-terrorist' operations against the Palestinian people. When such operations are politically expedient, Israel manufactures a 'provocation' to justify the operation.
See also: Hamas blames 'Israeli collaborators' for launching rockets
The Hamas rulers of Gaza Strip on Tuesday lashed out at gunners who fire rockets at Israel from the Palestinian territory in violation of a seven-week-old calm, calling them Israeli collaborators. "About the rocket-firing, I think those who are responsible are those who collaborate with Israel because there is a consensus by all Palestinian groups to respect the truce," said Dr. Mahmud Zahar, a senior leader of the Hamas movement.
Is the latest attack by Israel another attempt at demonizing Hamas?
Nobody has claimed responsibility so far for the rocket attack, but the former deputy defense minister Danny Danon rushed to announce that the incident once again proves that Hamas, ruling Gaza, is a terrorist organization. "If anyone doubted this then they received the answer now with the [rocket] fire,"Danon said.


      Read More...
Attention

The Truth Perspective: Sydney Siege terror - what about Chechnya and Ukraine?

Sott Editors
Sott.net
Sat, 20 Dec 2014 19:00 UTC
peshawar school shooting
This weeks show covers a multitude of events. In the past week or so, there have been an unusual number of mass murders that have occurred around the world, including the killing of students by the Taliban at a school in Peshawar, an Iraq vet who murdered an entire family near Philadelphia, the Sydney siege and the attack in Canada. Included in the discussion are the curious and rather common connections between the perpetrators of many of the shootings to intelligence agencies who have had these people on their watch lists but who somehow manage to slip through the net to commit these crimes.

Next up, we discussed the ongoing intrigue in Chechnya and Ukraine, the US re-establishment of diplomatic ties with Cuba to end the embargo and Russia's response to the situation. Russia has been quite prominent in the news on other fronts: their recent backing out of the South Stream pipeline agreement after EU / Bulgaria's haggling for four years, Putin's offer of amnesty to Russian oligarchs enabling them to legally return assets to Russia and Putin's skillful maneuvering to help Russia weather the economic storm caused by drops in oil prices and the Ruble, while cooperating with other BRICS and SCO countries to transition out of dollar denominated reserves into other currencies.

Running Time: 01:41:00

Download: MP3

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