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New bill would delay Freedom Act; let NSA to keep storing Americans' phone data


RT
Wed, 18 Nov 2015 21:25 UTC
Image
© Jason Reed / Reuters
A Republican senator from Arkansas has submitted a bill that would extend the NSA's ability to collect Americans' phone metadata by more than a year. Tom Cotton insisted the last week's terror attacks in Paris proved the value of such spying activities.

Cotton introduced his bill, titled the Liberty Through Strength Act, on Tuesday, which proposes postponing the "transition timeline in the USA FREEDOM Act until after January 31, 2017."


Comment: Yet again we have legislators naming bills in a way the implies freedom and liberty when in reality they're designed to chip it all away, bit by bit.


"If we take anything from the Paris attacks, it should be that vigilance and safety go hand-in-hand," Cotton said in a statement."Now is not the time to sacrifice our national security for political talking points. We should allow the Intelligence Community to do their job and provide them with the tools they need to keep us safe."


Comment: What a load of nonsense. Sounds like the same old spiel used during, and since, the days of the G.W. Bush regime: They hate us because of our freedoms so we have to take away your freedoms to protect against terr'ists attacks due to our freedoms.


Comment: Same modus operandi, different day: Instigate and support terrorism, then use that terrorism to tighten controls on everyone and everything. Since 911 the world is far less secure than it was prior, and nothing - absolutely nothing - done by the USA in the name of "national security" has caused the terrorism to stop. In fact it has increased steadily. At this time in history it is only the actions of Russia in Syria that is having any significant impact against global terrorism.

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Light Saber

Russian Air Forces destroy 500 terrorist oil trucks in Syria; disrupt oil sales channel


RT
Wed, 18 Nov 2015 17:31 UTC
Image
© Ministry of Defence of Russian Federation/RIA Novosti
A Tupolev Tu-22M3 long-range strategic and maritime strike bomber of the Russian Aerospace Forces during a combat flight to strike the Islamic State infrastructure facilities in Syria by OFAB-25-270 fragmentation high explosive bombs.
Around 500 fuel tanker vehicles transporting illegal oil from Syria to Iraq for processing have been destroyed by Russia's Air Forces, the General Staff said. "In recent years, Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) and other extremist groups have organized the operations of the so-called 'pipeline on wheels' on the territories they control," Russian General Staff spokesman Colonel General Andrey Kartapolov said.

Hundreds of thousands of tons of fuel have been delivered to Iraq for processing by trucks and the revenue generated from these illegal exports is the one of the terrorists' main sources of funding, he said. The spokesman displayed images showing convoys comprised of hundreds of vehicles transporting oil to back up his assertion.


"In just the first few days, our aviation has destroyed 500 fuel tanker trucks, which greatly reduced illegal oil export capabilities of the militants and, accordingly, their income from oil smuggling," Kartapolov stressed. The spokesman also said that the Russian military has begun developing proposals for joint military action with the French Navy against the terrorists in accordance with an order by President Vladimir Putin. "This joint work will begin after the arrival of aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle to the Syrian shores," Kartapolov explained.

Russia has been bombing Islamic State and other terror groups in Syria since September 30 at the official request of country's president, Bashar Assad. On Tuesday, Russia's fleet of 25 long-range bombers joined Su-34, Su-25, and Su-24M warplanes conducting operations in Syria to double the number of airstrikes against the militants.

Comment: The U.S.-led 'coalition' against terror is a complete joke.

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Vader

Washington fine-tunes its false flag methodology

Paul Craig Roberts
Institute for Political Economy
Mon, 16 Nov 2015 19:09 UTC
paris attacks
© Thierry Orban/Getty Images
Washington and its French vassal have refined how they conduct their false flag operations. With the Charlie Hebdo operation, they knew to immediately set the story in stone in order to avoid any questions from the print and TV media and in order to use the set story to take the place of an investigation.

The set story made it unnecessary to explain the mysterious "suicide" of one of the main police investigators while engaged in the investigation of the event. The set story also made it unnecessary to explain why it was necessary to kill rather than capture the alleged perpetrators, or to explain how the French authorities could be so wrong about the alleged get-away-driver but not about the two gunmen. There has been no explanation why the authorities believed there was a get-away-driver, and no such driver has been captured or killed. Indeed, there are many unanswered questions of no interest to any media except the alternative Internet media.

What the US and France learned from the Charlie Hebdo skepticism on the Internet is to keep the story flowing. Charlie Hebdo involved two scenes of violence, and the connection between the two acts of terrorism was vague. This time there were several scenes of violence, and they were better connected in the story.

More importantly, the story was followed quickly by more drama, such as the pursuit of a suspected perpetrator into Belgium, a French bombing attack on the Islamic State, a French aircraft carrier sent to the Middle East, a declaration of war by the French President against ISIL, and speculation that Hollande, pressured by Washington, will invoke NATO's Article V, which will pull NATO into an invasion of the Islamic State. By superceding each event with a new one, the public's attention is shifted away from the attack itself and the interests served by the attack. Already the attack itself is old news. The public's attention has been led elsewhere. How soon will NATO have boots on the ground?

Comment: Russia has been able to turn the horrible attacks in Paris into a means of creating cooperation between nations against the ISIL threat. The US must be livid.

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Dollar

Politely holding all the cards: Putin bests the IMF on Ukraine debt

Alexander Mercouris
Russia Insider
Wed, 18 Nov 2015 19:21 UTC
Putin Lagarde IMF
© Michael Klimentyev / RIA Novosti
Russian President Vladimir Putin and IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde during their meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Antalya, Turkey, November 15, 2015.
Putin's supposed "offer" at the G20 to restructure the $3 billion debt Ukraine owes Russia has been universally misunderstood. It was not a real offer at all.

Firstly, it was not made to Ukraine - which is the country that owes the money - but to the IMF's Christine Lagarde. Secondly the "offer" is conditional on the IMF - or the US or EU - guaranteeing to pay Russia the money if Ukraine defaults. On that basis Putin said Russia would accept payment in instalments, each of $1 billion, payable over 3 years. Ukraine would however continue to pay interest.

If the offer were accepted Russia would get all its money - either directly from Ukraine or from the IMF or US or EU - plus interest on top, only over 3 years instead of in December. Putin cheekily pointed out that if Lagarde is so sure Ukraine is about to become solvent, giving Russia a guarantee should present no problems.

In reality - as Putin well knows - there is no chance the IMF or the US or the EU will ever give Russia such a guarantee. In the case of the IMF it is questionable whether it is legally able to. In the case of the US and EU doing so would be politically impossible.

Comment: Even the baroness of the IMF is outmatched by Putin. No worries, Lagarde, you've got a lot of company to lick your wounds with.

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Red Flag

State Governors press White House for Syrian refugee information

Josh Rogin
Bloomberg
Wed, 18 Nov 2015 18:31 UTC
Image
© Alex Wong/Getty Images
White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough
In a call with senior Obama administration officials Tuesday evening, several governors demanded they be given access to information about Syrian refugees about to be resettled by the federal government in their states. Top White House officials refused.

Over a dozen governors from both parties joined the conference call, which was initiated by the White House after 27 governors vowed not to cooperate with further resettlement of Syrian refugees in their states. The outrage among governors came after European officials revealed that one of the Paris attackers may have entered Europe in October through the refugee process using a fake Syrian passport. (The details of the attacker's travels are still murky.)

The administration officials on the call included White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, State Department official Simon Henshaw, FBI official John Giacalone, and the deputy director of the National Counterterrorism Center John Mulligan.

Comment: Makes one wonder why the government is keeping information on the refugees so secret. Are they trying to hide something?

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Arrow Up

Take no prisoners - Russia's fight against ISIS

Pepe Escobar
RT.com
Wed, 18 Nov 2015 17:57 UTC
Tu-95MS strategic bombers.
© Ramil Sitdikov/RIA Novosti
Tu-95MS strategic bombers.
The so-called Islamic State should have learned by now: they've picked a fight against the wrong guys. We have entered "take no prisoners" territory. For Russia, now all the gloves are off.

Especially after online terrorist magazine Dabiq published a photo of the alleged bomb that downed the Metrojet: a crude device inside a can of Schweppes Gold, placed under a passenger seat. Also published were photos of passports of Russian victims, allegedly taken "by the mujahedeen."

Their collective fate was sealed the minute the Director of the Federal Security Service Aleksandr Bortnikov told President Putin, about the Metrojet crash on October 31 in Egypt that: "We can say with confidence that this was a terrorist act."

Caliphate goons may run - in the deserts of 'Syraq' and beyond - but they can't hide, as per Russia's presidential message: "We will search for them everywhere - wherever they are hiding. We will find them in any spot on the planet and we will punish them." The message comes with extra enticement; the $50 million bounty offered by the FSB for any information leading to the perpetrators of the Sinai tragedy.

Putin's message instantly turned heavy metal in the form of a massive, impressive Russian barrage over 140 Caliphate targets, delivered via 34 air-launched cutting-edge cruise missiles and furious action by Tu-160, Tu-22, and the Tu-95MC 'Bear' strategic bombers. This was the first time the Russian long-range strategic bomber force has been deployed since the 1980s Afghan jihad.

And there's more coming - to be stationed in Syria; an extra deployment of 25 strategic bombers, eight Su-34 'Fullback' attack aircraft, and four Su-27 'Flanker' fighter jets.
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Bomb

Paul Craig Roberts: Suicide bombers - More Paris puzzles

Paul Craig Roberts
PaulCraigRoberts.org
Wed, 18 Nov 2015 17:38 UTC
Suicide Bomber
© StrangeCosmos.com
Some people who are not inclined to believe the official story of the Paris attack are troubled by the question why Muslim suicide bombers would blow themselves up for a false flag attack. The answer to this question is very simple. But first we should dispose of the question whether suicide bombers did blow themselves up. Is this something that we know, or is it part of the story that we are told?

For example, we were told that during 9/11 passengers in hijacked airliners used their cell phones to call relatives, but experts have testified that the technology of the time did not permit cell phone calls from airliners at those altitudes.

To dispose of the question whether we have or do not have any real evidence that suicide bombers blew themselves up, I will assume that they did.

So we have suicide bombers blowing themselves up.

Now turn to the question that troubles some doubters: Why would suicide bombers blow themselves up for the sake of a false flag attack?

As I said, the answer is simple: Why assume that the suicide bombers knew who was organizing the attack? There seems to be abundant evidence that ISIL is a US creation, one that is still dependent on US active or passive support—thus the conflict between Putin and Washington over attacking ISIL.

ISIL seems to be what Washington used to overthrow the government in Libya and afterward was sent by Washington to Syria to overthrow Assad. Obviously, Washington has ISIL infiltrated. Washington has long proven is ability to use Islamic extremists. As Washington used them in Afghanistan against the Soviets and in Libya and Syria against independent governments, Washington used them in Paris. By my last count, the FBI on 150 occasions has successfully deceived people into participating into FBI orchestrated "terror plots."
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Wall Street

What a concept: Place sanctions on banks and states funding ISIS, says Corbyn


RT
Wed, 18 Nov 2015 17:27 UTC
Jeremy Corbyn
© Russell Cheyne / Reuters
States and financial institutions suspected of managing or providing funds to Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) should have sanctions placed on them, Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn told MPs.

Speaking to the House of Commons, the Labour leader urged Parliament to take more action to clamp down on institutions which provide "vital infrastructure" to the terror group in Syria and Iraq.

Corbyn said one of the main ways to stop IS from functioning is to cut off its resources, suggesting the EU would also need to play a part in suffocating the organization.

"Surely a crucial way to help defeat ISIL is to cut off its funding, its supply of arms, and its trade," Corbyn said during prime minister's questions (PMQs).

"Can I press the prime minister to ensure that our allies in the region, indeed all countries in the region, are doing all they can to clamp down on individuals and institutions in their countries who are providing ISIL with vital infrastructure?

Comment: There is only one way to defeat ISIS: Follow the money

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Attention

Russian combat ships will not provide air defense support for French navy off Syria


ITAR-TASS
Wed, 18 Nov 2015 16:54 UTC
Russian warship
© Anton Novoderezhkin/TASS
Russian combat ships in Syrian waters will provide no air defense or antisubmarine support for the French aircraft carrier-led group as it can accomplish these missions independently, a source in defense and diplomatic circles told TASS on Wednesday.

Some media reports said earlier that the Russian naval ships in Syrian waters would provide combat support for the French aircraft carrier in its operation against the Islamic State terrorist organization in Syria.

"In fulfillment of the orders by Supreme Command-in-Chief Vladimir Putin, the Russian Navy's task force staying in Syrian waters will exercise close interaction with the French aircraft carrier grouping at sea and in the air, including anti-subversion and anti-terror activity. However, there is no talk about our ships' antisubmarine and air defense support for the French naval grouping led by the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle," the source said.

Comment: France has UK and USA sending warships to Syria so there will be quite a show of naval force with Russia already there.

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Radar

Nowhere to hide: ISIL fighters fleeing Raqqa amid Russian air campaign


Sputnik
Wed, 18 Nov 2015 16:46 UTC
Russian TU-160 bomber
Islamic State fighters are fleeing Raqqa, the terrorist group's stronghold in Syria, as Russia and France have intensified airstrikes on their positions, Russian media reported on Wednesday.

The terrorists have abandoned their positions and are fleeing toward the Turkish border, while some of them are hiding in civilian buildings, RIA Novosti news agency wrote, citing local eyewitness reports on Wednesday.

In Tel-Abyad, a town 100 kilometers north of Raqqa, ISIL fighters abandoned their strongholds under pressure from Kurdish self-defense forces.

The Islamic State group is coming under increased military pressure after claiming responsibility for last month's bombing of a Russian passenger jet in Egypt and Friday's attacks in Paris, which killed more than 120 people.

Comment: There is no choice for ISIL but to flee as Russia continues to hunt them down. Interesting they are fleeing to Turkey.

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