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Turkey & terrorist groups pretty much the only ones violating Syrian ceasefire


RT
Sun, 28 Feb 2016 23:24 UTC
syria
© Bassam Khabieh / Reuters
Russian monitors of the ceasefire in Syria have recorded nine violations of the truce over the last 24 hours. They said overall the ceasefire is holding up, but some of the violations were attributed to the rebels.

Pledges to observe the ceasefire have been submitted by 17 "moderate" rebel groups and elders of 35 towns and villages, who said that they would expel anyone not willing to uphold the deal and enlist those willing to do it into local militias, the Russian center for reconciliation said. The US has filed a list of 69 rebel groups who have subscribed to the ceasefire, they said.

Six of the nine violations were noted because the fire came from the regions of suburban Damascus under the control of "moderate" rebel groups listed as observing the ceasefire by the American side, the report said.

Comment: So 'moderate rebels' (Western-speak for terrorist groups) and Turkey are pretty much the only ones violating the ceasefire. This deal is definitely making the real terrorists stick out like sore thumbs.

Also see:

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Wall Street

The Shanghai G-20 meeting was a big disappointment: What happens next?

Tyler Durden
Zerohedge
Sun, 28 Feb 2016 22:18 UTC
Mario Draghi
Exactly one week ago, when BofA's Michael Hartnett explained what global capital markets need to rebound from their recent doldrums, he laid out what he sees are the world's two biggest problems:
  • Problem 1: US economy in "bad Goldilocks", i.e. US economy not hot/strong enough to lift global GDP & EPS; but not cold/bad enough to induce global coordinated response
  • Problem 2: global policy-maker rhetoric in recent days shows "coordinated innocence" not stimulus, all blaming global economy for weak domestic economies ("Overseas factors are to blame"...Japan PM Abe; "drag on U.S. economy from greater-than-expected-slowdown in China & other EM economies"...FOMC minutes; "increasing concerns about the prospects for the global economy"...ECB Draghi; "the change in China's growth rate can be attributed in part to weak performance of the global economy"...PBoC)
That recaps the problems; as to what the markets need he said the following:
"We remain sellers into strength in coming weeks/months of risk assets at least until a coordinated and aggressive global policy response (e.g. Shanghai Accord) begins to reverse the deterioration in global profit expectations and credit conditions."
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Propaganda

New York Times: Whitewashing Killary's destruction of Libya


Moon of Alabama
Sun, 28 Feb 2016 22:49 UTC
libya NATO
© Unknown
NATO's destruction of Libya
The New York Times has a two-part piece about the U.S. war on Libya and especially Hillary Clinton's role as the then Secretary of State in it. Adhering to the NYT's editorial line, the overall picture of Clinton is painted in sympathetic colors even when it describes the disaster she created.

Overall it is a whitewash of history based on the lies that the "humanitarian intervention" was perceived necessary because Ghaddafi was about to "kill civilians". It is not unexpected that the NYT would write such nonsense. The NYT editors had themselves endorsed the war and the paper lauded the immediate result. It is guilty of inciting the war just as much as Clinton is.

But the story of the "humanitarian intervention" for the Libyan people in March 2011 is hogwash.

Comment: Following the exceptional standard of previous American leadership, Hillary should naturally be the next president. She is fully qualified to rape, pillage and murder right up there with the rest of 'em!

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Bomb

Russian military report: Syrian town attacked by militants from Turkey


RT
Sun, 28 Feb 2016 09:32 UTC
man and fences
© Ammar Abdullah / Reuters
The Gatekeeper
The Russian ceasefire monitoring center near Latakia says it is verifying reports of an attack on the Kurdish town Tell Abyad in northern Syria carried out by militants coming from Turkey. The reports came overnight and claim that the forces coming from Turkey are using heavy artillery, according to Lt. Gen. Sergey Kuralenko, who heads the center for Syrian reconciliation. "This information was verified through multiple channels, including representatives of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), [a rebel alliance that includes Kurds, Arabs and other ethnic groups and operates in the region]," he said.

Russia has requested clarification from the US-run counterpart of the center based in Amman, citing its influence on Turkey, a member of the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State terrorist group, the general said. The Turkish newspaper Hurriyet cited military sources as denying that the Turkish military were involved in any cross-border shelling on Sunday.

Leading world powers have brokered a shaky ceasefire in some parts of Syria, which is expected to be observed by all parties except hardcore Islamist fighters of IS and Nusra Front.

Turkey is currently leading a crackdown on Kurdish militias from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which it considers a terrorist organization. While the crackdown is focused on predominantly Kurdish regions in south-eastern Turkey, the clashes occasionally spill across the border into regions of Syria and Iraq held by Kurds.

Kurdish militias in Iraq and Syria are one of the few forces that successfully opposed the spread of Islamic State and have been supported by the US. Ankara criticized Washington's attitude, saying America should chose between the Kurds and the Turks.

Comment: Erdogan is acting independently of the US/NATO coalition in his pursuit of the Kurds. Turkey may be a going-rogue nation or it could be a part of a hush agreement to sabotage the ceasefire to further accommodate Mr. Kerry's Plan B Plan A.

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Vinyl

NATO Strategy of Tension: 'ISIS' blows 'at least 70 people' in twin bombing at Baghdad market


Irish Times
Sun, 28 Feb 2016 22:09 UTC
A twin suicide bombing claimed by Islamic State killed 70 people in a Shia district of Baghdad on Sunday in the deadliest attack inside the capital this year, as militants launched an assault on its western outskirts.


Comment: There is NO POSSIBLE WAY for Reuters, or anybody else, to already know for certain that these were 'suicide' attacks. Right there we have the real perps' signature.


Baghdad bombing ISIS
© AP Photo/Ali Abdul Hassan
Street vendors collect their belongings after deadly bombing attacks in Sadr City, Baghdad, Iraq on Feb. 28, 2016.
Police sources said the suicide bombers were riding motorcycles and blew themselves up in a crowded mobile phone market in Sadr City, wounding more than 100 people in addition to the dead.

A witness saw pools of blood on the ground with slippers, shoes and mobile phones at the site of the blasts, which was sealed off to prevent further attacks.

In a statement circulated online, Islamic State said it was responsible for the blasts: "Our swords will not cease to cut off the heads of the rejectionist polytheists, wherever they are," it said, using derogatory terms for Shia Muslims.

Iraqi forces backed by airstrikes from a US-led coalition have driven Islamic State back in the western Anbar province recently and are preparing for an offensive to retake the northern city of Mosul.


Comment: Hence the attack in Baghdad; ISIS is on the backfoot so the Powers That Be step in to help maintain the illusion that 'ISIS' can strike anytime, anywhere...


Comment: The Western empire's quarter-century war against the Iraqi people just goes on and on and on...

For more on the 'strategy of tension', read/watch these:

The Strategy of Tension: NATO's Secret War Against Europe

Operation Gladio: State-Sponsored Terror [VIDEO]

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Bomb

NATO Strategy of Tension: Twin bombings kill 40 people and injure 70 others in Somalia


Sputnik
Sun, 28 Feb 2016 22:11 UTC
Somalia blast
© Flickr/ United Nations Photo
At least 40 people were killed and 70 others injured in two bombings in southcentral Somalia on Sunday, media reported.

According to the CNN network, the incident took place in the town of Baidoa. One of the attacks was carried out by a suicide bomber at a restaurant, while the other one was a car bomb explosion near a pharmacy.

The al-Shabaab militant group has reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack.

On Friday, al-Shabaab reportedly carried out a car bomb explosion followed by gunfire in the Somali capital of Mogadishu, killing an unknown number of people.

Al-Shabaab is al-Qaeda's affiliate in Somalia, fighting to overthrow the country's internationally recognized government.

Comment: Al-Shabaab is the phony 'Islamic' pseudo-gang outfit Western intelligence created in order to drain popular support away from the Islamic Courts Union in Somalia.

See also:

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Quenelle - Golden

In 5 short months Russia changed the course of the Syrian war

Rudy Panko
Russia Insider
Sun, 28 Feb 2016 21:45 UTC
syrian flag
© www.express.co.uk
Bullet hole strewn flag still flies in Syria.
Al-Masdar News has published a brief but compelling article highlighting the Syrian army's achievements since Russia entered the conflict back in September. The Russians have only been in Syria for five months, but they've completely changed the course of the war:
Exactly 5 months ago, on 30 September 2015, the Russian airforce began its bombardment on ISIS fighters and various Islamist rebel groups across Syria. Subsequently, government forces have been able to gain considerable ground in especially the provinces of Lattakia, Daraa and Aleppo. The latter governorate quickly witnessed a change of momentum and upper hand as the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) launched three different offensives in separate directions from the provincial capital itself.
The future of Syria is still uncertain, but one thing is absolutely clear: Russia has saved the Syrian people from western-backed slaughter. Moscow's ability to prevent a US-imposed "no fly zone" over Syria quite literally saved the entire country: As a Russian diplomat revealed, western powers predicted that a "no fly zone" would allow ISIS to take Damascus by October. And you can bet they weren't planning on doing anything about it.
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Cookies

Irish elections: Liberal establishment 'wins' as Sinn Fein kept out of power - But what next for austerity regime?

Henry McDonald
The Guardian
Sun, 28 Feb 2016 20:27 UTC
irish elections

Irish elections: 'Vote for anyone but Sinn Fein, please'
Ireland's largest opposition party, Fianna Fáil, will respect a "political ceasefire" to allow Fine Gael's Enda Kenny to continue as Taoiseach, sources inside the party said on Sunday night after most of the votes had been counted in the most indecisive Irish general election for decades.

Fianna Fáil will not enter a coalition with its rival but will avoid bringing down a minority Fine Gael-led administration in the short to medium term, the Guardian has learned, after an election that has produced no possibility of any coalition holding a majority.

This would allow Kenny to remain as prime minister for the centenary commemorations of the 1916 Easter Rising and for Fine Gael to govern for at least a year, thus avoiding another election in the next few weeks or months.


Comment: Besides the farce of trying to pretend that the two main parties that have ruled Ireland for 100 years are not in fact both establishment parties (pro-US, pro-UK, pro-Troika, and very, very liberal), they're eager to avoid Sinn Fein - against whom they played extremely dirty throughout the election campaign - even being seen as the main opposition party.


The Dáil will meet on 10 March to elect a new Taoiseach but no new government, not even an minority one, is expected to be formed until the end of the month.

In return Fianna Fáil would reform the Irish parliament, allocating more powers for members of the Dáil, or TDs, to scrutinise government legislation and crucially allowing the opposition to have some input into the shape of this year's budget.


Comment: This would be part of the deal. It would mean, in effect, that Fianna Fail and Fine Gael, traditionally the two biggest parties, would end up in coalition government. What they want to avoid is the overt appearance of them being in coalition: this signals that the two main 'opposing' parties are exactly the same: establishment parties, with Sinn Fein as the real opposition. They can't allow that because it brings Sinn Fein one step closer to the inevitable: their rise to power over all Ireland.


Comment: Ah, the madness of democracy.

Politics in this typical 'Western liberal democracy' is in fact all decided by backroom deals between party heads and oligarchs like media tycoons and the richest landowners (or foreign banks, in Ireland's case).

Sinn Fein is doubly dangerous to the Powers That Be because they are their worst nightmare: a leftist nationalist party with broad popular support - and which people would vote for en masse if they weren't so hytericized by the media.

People want stability, not this charade of 'people power' that enables powerful banking interests to pillage the country and maintain the Western hegemonic structure.

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Black Magic

Retired US Air Force officer spells it out: 'Pentagon needs Russia as the next big enemy' to justify its existence


Sputnik
Fri, 26 Feb 2016 17:52 UTC
Ash Carter
© Gary Cameron / Reuters
U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter gets his war
The Pentagon is pointing fingers in advance because it is unhappy with having the brakes put on some of the things it wanted to do in Syria, Karen Kwiatkowski, a retired US Air force Lieutenant Colonel, told RT.

RT: The relationship between Russia and the US has often been very strained but recently we have heard positive steps being taken on both sides. Why is the American media still trying to vilify Russia?

Karen Kwiatkowski: I think there is an atmosphere of malaise to some extent in the American public, so stories that are sort of fear-mongering are stories that are picked up quite a bit. And I think you can see this from looking at what our candidates for president are all saying. They are very militaristic-leaning in terms of their rhetoric and I think that's what people in America want to hear, there is an audience for it. And the real driver though is that the Pentagon needs and wants Russia to be the next big enemy that they are arming against it, budgeting against it, that they are targeting.

Certainly, we have talked for a long time about China and China plays an important role as the enemy of choice for the US military. But Russia is ideal in part, because we don't import a lot of things from Russia, in part because we don't have the debt relationship with Russia that we do with China. So, Russia makes for a very convenient enemy for the Pentagon in terms of its mission, its budgeting and its intelligence organization.
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Yoda

Timing and forbearance: Damascus shelled but Syrian Army not returning fire at Russian request


Sputnik
Sun, 28 Feb 2016 21:11 UTC
syrian soldier
© Sputnik/ Valeriy Melnikov
A soldier of the Syrian Arab Army at an observation post at the frontline in the al-Kom village of the Quneitra province in Syria
The Syrian army, following a request from the Russian center on reconciliation, did not return fire after Damascus was shelled Saturday from the regions of Ghuta and Jobar, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement Sunday.

According to the statement, the Syrian capital of Damascus was shelled six times on Saturday morning from the regions of eastern Ghuta and Jobar, where the so-called "moderate opposition" is stationed.

"The Syrian government troops did not return fire, upon the request of the Russian center on reconciliation," the statement read.

A ceasefire between Syrian government and rebel forces that entered its second day is largely holding, the head of Russia's ceasefire monitoring center at the Hmeymim airbase in Latakia said Sunday.

Comment: By exercising patience, Russia and Syria will allow those acting in bad faith to reveal themselves.

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