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US Sec Def Mattis considering first talks with Russian counterpart Shoigu


RT
Fri, 27 Jul 2018 16:41 UTC
mattis shoigu
© Francois Lenoir / Reuters; Mikhail Klimentyev / Sputnik
US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has said he is looking into the possibility of holding the first talks in years with his Russian counterpart Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu.

"I am considering meeting with my counterpart, but there's been no decision," Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon, as quoted by Reuters.

Shoygu last spoke on the phone with a US Defense Secretary in September 2015 when the position was occupied by Ash Carter. The sides discussed Syria back then, with the Pentagon describing the conversation as "constructive."

Earlier on Friday, Vladimir Putin said that Russia and US were cooperating on Syria on an operative level, but added that high-level contacts on the issue were required.

During their meeting in Helsinki earlier this month, presidents Putin and Trump agreed to revitalize military cooperation between the countries in several areas, including the return of refugees to Syria and prolonging the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START).

Trump even said that the US and Russian militaries proved to actually get along better than the politicians of the two countries over the past few years, referring to the deconfliction communication in Syria.
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Red Flag

Slow motion genocide: Israel's security minister threatens 'broad military operation' against Gazans


RT
Thu, 26 Jul 2018 16:22 UTC
An Israeli airstrike in Gaza. July 14, 2018
© SOPA Images / Getty Images
An Israeli airstrike in Gaza. July 14, 2018
Israel is doubling down on its belligerent rhetoric, as the public security minister says the army might launch a large-scale assault on Gaza. He warns the attack could be as massive as the bloody 2014 war.

The government will be forced "to return to a broad military operation" in Gaza if Hamas doesn't stop attacking Israel, Gilad Erdan warned on Thursday. Speaking to state radio broadcaster Kan, he said that the potential military action could be "at least" as massive as the devastating Operation Protective Edge, conducted in Gaza four years ago.


Comment: In other words, another massacre: As Gaza sinks into desperation, Norman Finkelstein makes a devastating case against Israeli brutality


Erdan's remarks come after the IDF reported that Hamas launched several rockets into Israel from Gaza the previous night. The army also said that a day earlier it shelled Gaza with tanks and artillery after an IDF soldier was wounded by "sniper fire" near the border fence.
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Eye 2

The White Helmet 'rescue': Did they know too much?


Oriental Review
Wed, 25 Jul 2018 15:11 UTC
White helmet evacuation

Members of the Syrian White Helmets and their families are evacuated out of southern Syria by Israel, in an exceptional humanitarian operation overnight on July 22, 2018
The countries of the West used Israel to evacuate members of the White Helmets from southern Syria. They couldn't be allowed to fall into the hands of the Syrian government - at least, not while they are still alive.

Essential human-rights defenders

Damascus is almost finished liberating southwestern Syria. The military's Operation Basalt was extremely successful, allowing them to regain control of the occupied provinces of Quneitra and Daraa (at present the Syrian army has only a small chunk of land left to liberate from the jihadists). Many of the local gangs simply surrendered. Those militants who wanted to remain underwent a procedure of reconciliation with the authorities, while the others were put onto green buses and sent to Idlib.

However, those militants included some very valuable specimens - members of the "Syrian civil defense", or, as they are more simply known, "the ​​White Helmets." If they were taken prisoner, that would be a serious problem for the US and its allies, since the members of that organization might have a lot to say once they were in front of the cameras. And the damage caused by their statements would be far worse than the fallout over the admissions made by Hassan Diab - the boy the "helmets" named as a victim of a chemical attack in Douma, who admitted that the attack had been staged for the photographers. And it would be so much worse, simply because the White Helmets - or at least their leaders - knew so much more.

Comment: Or, in the alternative, making use of their "skills" to continues to sow terror and destabilization in their destination countries. The victim countries would then be ripe for increasing military control in the name of "safety and security".

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No Entry

CNN reporter banned from White House press event, Fox News joins outcry after exclusion


The Guardian, UK
Wed, 25 Jul 2018 21:53 UTC
Kaitlan Collins
© Alex Brandon/AP
A CNN reporter has been excluded by the White House from a press event after asking Donald Trump about Vladimir Putin's postponed visit and the Michael Cohen tapes.

The ban on White House reporter Kaitlan Collins sparked outcry from traditional rival Fox News and the White House Correspondents Association, which called the decision "wrong-headed, and weak".

Collins was barred from a Rose Garden event free to all press after asking what she was told were "inappropriate" questions at an earlier gathering. Collins had asked about the audio recording - featuring Trump discussing paying former Playboy model Karen McDougal - during a picture-taking session in the Oval Office as Trump met Jean-Claude Juncker, the European commission president.

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Light Saber

Bashar Assad: White Helmets who don't lay down arms will be liquidated as terrorists


Sputnik
Thu, 26 Jul 2018 20:44 UTC
Bashar Assad
© Reuters/SANA
Syrian President Bashar Assad
The president's remarks come amid the ongoing evacuation of hundreds of members of the controversial group, which Damascus considers to be a media arm of al-Qaeda in Syria.

Speaking to Russian media on Thursday, Bashar Assad reiterated his position that the White Helmets were not a rescue group, but rather a "mask" for Nusra Front* militants. Assad said that the leaders of the group had likely already fled Syria, with the remainder staying behind under the guise of civilians and hiding in militant-controlled Idlib, which he said was home to "tens of thousands of terrorists."

"They have fled Syria, but really did not flee - they were evacuated by Israel, Jordan and the Western powers," Assad said.

According to the president, any White Helmets who refuse amnesty will be liquidated. "The fate of the White Helmets will be the same as that of any terrorist. They have two paths: either lay down their arms and take advantage of amnesty ... or be liquidated, like other terrorists," he said.
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Star of David

The West & Israel provide 'exceptional' rescue strategy for the White Helmets

Vanessa Beeley
RT
Thu, 26 Jul 2018 11:10 UTC
White Helmets 1
© Global Look Press
History appears to repeat itself as Israel conducts an "exceptional" rescue of extremist militants and their White Helmet "mannequins" from southern Syria - at the urgent request of NATO member states.

The military alliance's member states just conducted a novel version of Operation Paperclip in Southern Syria but, instead of resettling Nazi war criminals to develop a weapon's program in the US, they will resettle Al Qaeda militants and their auxiliaries. Indeed, the latter's role has been to corroborate alleged tales of chemical weapons use by Syria - to justify the intervention of the US coalition, both by proxy and directly, against a sovereign nation.

Post World War II, the US imported Nazi scientists to prevent them falling into the hands of Soviet forces. Decades later America and its allies are extricating their client extremists, who are operating undercover in Syria, from the threat of discovery by approaching Syrian and Russian forces.


Comment: See also:

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Oil Well

Saudi Arabia oil tanker attacked, vows to halt shipments until safety can be ensured


RT
Wed, 25 Jul 2018 21:36 UTC
French oil tanker Limburg off the coast of Yemen
© Aladin Abdel Naby / Reuters
FILE PHOTO: French oil tanker Limburg off the coast of Yemen
Saudi Arabia is temporarily halting oil shipments through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, the country's energy minister has said. It follows a Houthi attack on a Saudi oil tanker off Yemen's western coast.

The pause in shipments will last until the safety of shipments through the strait, which connects the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, is ensured, Khalid Al-Falih said in a statement.

The announcement follows an attack by the Yemeni militant force the Houthis on a Saudi oil tanker in the Red Sea west of Yemen's coast. According to the Saudi-led coalition intervening in Yemen, the attack caused "minor damage".

Comment: See also:

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Brick Wall

Mass migration "greatest threat" to Austrian security says newly appointed Chief of staff


RT
Thu, 26 Jul 2018 16:21 UTC
Migrants wait to cross the border from Slovenia into Spielfeld in Austria, February 16, 2016
© Reuters
FILE PHOTO Migrants wait to cross the border from Slovenia into Spielfeld in Austria, February 16, 2016
Mass migration is the greatest threat to Austrian security, the country's newly-appointed chief of the general staff said, adding that the problem of asylum seekers has now spread to all EU states.

"The migration problem has developed in a way that now all member states of the European Union are affected," Major General Robert Brieger told Ö1 radio station on Wednesday. He stressed that mass migration has become the "greatest threat" to Austria's security.

The top military official said that "as long as external border protection is not fully guaranteed, there is a need to act at the national level." Border controls can safeguard Austria from "terrorist threats," Brieger, who took on his post on Tuesday, insisted.

Austria has seen a large influx of asylum seekers, like many other EU states, ever since the refugee crisis kicked off in 2015. In June Austria's Defense Minister Mario Kunasek said that the EU Border Guard (Frontex) should be bolstered with soldiers and policemen. According to Kunasek, the beefed-up force would work in EU border countries, namely Italy and Greece, but might actually venture into "African countries with the consent of the respective state."

Comment: While the EU was quick to sanction countries that refused to kowtow to their migrant quotas, they're now facing a backlash, including from those countries that initially 'welcomed' them. It's becoming worryingly clear to many that the impacts of the migrant crisis are nuanced but that, if it continues as the bureaucrats in Brussels would like it to, the effects to Europe and its culture would be disastrous: Also check out SOTT radio's:




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Better Earth

The end of NATO? Italy to lower defense contributions - Even the US falls short of target


RT
Thu, 26 Jul 2018 18:46 UTC
Italian Army soldiers march during the Republic Day military parade in Rome on 2 June, 2018.
© Tony Gentile / Reuters
Italian Army soldiers march during the Republic Day military parade in Rome on 2 June, 2018.
Italy will further lower its defense spending next year, its foreign minister has said. Rome currently spends 1.15 percent of GDP on defense, lagging far behind the two percent benchmark sought by Washington from its NATO allies.

Italy's defense spending is set to slightly fall next year, Foreign Minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi said on Thursday. As of 2018, Italy spends 1.15 percent of its GDP on military.

Minister Milanesi's statement appears to contradict earlier signals sent by the new Italian government. Late in June, Italy's Defense Minister Elisabetta Trenta told the Defense News in an interview that she affirmed to US national security adviser John Bolton that Rome aimed to reach NATO's target spending of two percent of GDP. Trenta, however, did not give any time frame for reaching the envisioned target.

Comment: Trump's demand that NATO countries contribute more to the nefarious organisation has actually led to an outcry from many in the political sphere to question the relevance of NATO itself: Also check out SOTT radio's: NewsReal: Trump on Tour! US President Takes Wrecking Ball to NATO & EU, Mueller Indicts Russians

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Bad Guys

An Obama era policy: US bolsters military presence in Australia to tackle 'China threat'


RT
Wed, 25 Jul 2018 23:00 UTC
U.S. Marines arrive on deployment at Darwin, 2017.
© Reuters/Tom Westbrook
U.S. Marines arrive on deployment at Darwin, 2017.
The US continues to ramp up its military footprint in Australia, aimed at countering a perceived threat presented from China. With plans to station 2,500 Marines in Darwin, US military presence in the Pacific continues to expand.

Marine Corps presence in Australia has ballooned since the first rotation of 250 troops arrived in the country in 2012. There are currently 1,500 members of the Marine Rotational Force-Darwin stationed in Australia's Northern Territory along with an array of US weapons and aircraft. That number is to swell to 2,500 "as soon as practicable," the Department of Defense said following a meeting between the US and Australia this week.

The ever-increasing US military footprint extends across the Pacific region, with some 22,000 Marines stationed in Okinawa, Japan, 7,000 in Guam and 28,500 in South Korea.

US forces will also integrate in Australia's upcoming Indo-Pacific Endeavour exercise and will carry out a series of exercises in Fiji, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Tonga and Vanuatu.

Comment: Trump considers stationing US troops around the world as a waste of good money, however these plans have obviously been in the pipeline since Obama's presidency and Trump seems powerless to stop it:

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