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US to hold military drill in Western Ukraine in mid-September


RT
Wed, 03 Sep 2014 12:36 UTC
Image
© Reuters / Kacper Pempel
Paratroopers from the U.S. Army's 173rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team participate in training exercises with the Polish 6 Airborne Brigade soldiers at the Land Forces Training Centre in Oleszno near Drawsko Pomorskie, north west Poland, May 1, 2014.
The US and its allies are preparing to stage a military exercise in western Ukraine, close to the Polish border, in mid-September. The joint drill will involve over 1,000 troops from the US and Europe, as well as from Ukraine.

Initially planned for mid-July, the exercise - code-named 'Rapid Trident' - was halted due to a significant escalation in the conflict between Kiev and the southeastern regions of Ukraine.

Now, as the fighting between the two sides continues, the US Army's European Command (EUCOM) plans to go ahead and stage the exercise on September 16-26.

Comment: All of these things they report as "planning to do", they've already done.

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Apple Green

Farmers in Europe affected by the Russian food embargo will not receive full compensation


RT
Wed, 03 Sep 2014 12:14 UTC
Image
© Reuters/Filip Klimaszewski
Apples are displayed at a fruit and vegetables market in Warsaw
Farmers in Europe affected by the Russian food embargo will not receive full compensation, German Agriculture Minister Christian Schmidt has said.

He wanted to clarify the situation to avoid people getting the wrong impression that "there would be one-to-one compensation. There can't be that," AFP quotes Schmidt's Tuesday interview on German public radio.

However, Schmidt promised there would be compensation in the form of support to get a better "grip on the market."

He also urged people to consume more.

"Eat! You should eat, I should eat, we should eat... Beginning in the early morning, five times a day," Schmidt said.

Later on Tuesday Schmidt met with French counterpart Stephane Le Foll and Polish Agriculture Minister Marek Sawicki to discuss the effect the Russian food embargo has had to the agricultural sector, ahead of a wider gathering of EU agriculture ministers in Brussels on Friday.

"Our aim must be to minimize the impact for those concerned, and also find new markets to cushion against future crises," Schmidt said in a statement after the meeting.

Comment: Ultimately it's the people that pay the price of the psychopaths in charge who care about nothing but fun and games. Even now they are announcing new sanctions. There is no other explanation as to why the EU keeps doing things that are counterproductive other than to suggest that the U.S. is in fact controlling the EU.

As Ukraine is losing the war the West escalates with more Russia sanctions

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Recycle

The grand Saudi reversal on the jihadist movement: From support to destruction?

Thierry Meyssan
Voltaire Network
Wed, 03 Sep 2014 14:49 UTC
While for the past 35 years Saudi Arabia has supported all the jihadist movements to the most extremist, Riyadh seems suddenly to have changed policy. Threatened in its very existence by a possible attack from the Islamic Emirate, Saudi Arabia has given the signal for the destruction of the organization. But contrary to appearances, the EIS remains supported by Turkey and Israel who sell their looted oil.

Preliminary: the EIS is a Western creation

The unanimity of the Security Council against the Islamic Emirate (EIS) and the passage of the 2170 resolution are only a facade attitude. This cannot induce us to forget the state support provided the EIS and which it still has.
French support for Free Syrian Army
© Unknown
In this photograph released by the Islamic Emirate, we see one of its fighters armed with a French Famas while Paris denies any contact with this organization. In reality, France has armed the Free Syrian Army with instructions to donate two-thirds of its equipment to the Al-Nosra Front (that is to say, Al Qaeda in Syria), as evidenced by a document provided by Syria to the Security Council of the UN. Subsequently several units of Al-Nosra rallied with their weapons to the Islamic Emirate. Moreover, contrary to official statements, the commander of the Islamic Emirate, the current caliph Ibrahim, combined his duties with those of a member of the staff of the Free Syrian Army.
To take only the recent events in Iraq, everyone has observed that EIS fighters entered the country in columns of brand new Humvees, straight from US American Motors factories and armed with Ukrainian materials, also new. With this equipment they seized the US weapons of the Iraqi Army. Also, everyone was amazed that the EIS had civil administrators instantly capable of taking over the management of the conquered territories and communications specialists that promote its activities on the Internet and on television; personnel obviously trained at Fort Bragg.
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Control Panel

​Slovakia initiates reverse gas flow to Ukraine


RT
Tue, 02 Sep 2014 15:32 UTC
Image
© AFP/Andrey Sinitsin
Slovakia initiated reverse deliveries of natural gas to Ukraine on Tuesday with enough capacity to cover up to a fifth of the country's needs.

Twenty-seven million cubic meters of gas will be supplied daily, Vagram Chuguryan of Slovakia's national pipeline operator Eustream told RIA Novosti.

Some technical work and adjustments need to be done before delivery is fully functional, which should be by March 1, 2015, he added.

Slovakia can gradually reach a maximum supply capacity of about 10 billion cubic meters annually sometime in 2015.

"If we put together three reverse points in Slovakia, Hungary and Poland then we can reach 25 billion cubic meters a year in the mid-term which would provide the solution Ukraine needs at the moment," Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico told reporters.

The decision to start the so-called reverse gas flows is part of the EU's response to Gazprom's decision to cut supplies to Kiev on June 16.
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Eye 1

U.S. military to open second drone base in Africa under guise of "fighting terrorism", because it still doesn't have full control over all of Africa

Craig Whitlock
Washington Post
Mon, 01 Sep 2014 14:52 UTC
Image
© Martin Bureau/AFP/Getty Images
A drone sits at a French army base in Niamey, Niger. France and the United States have ramped up their cooperation in Africa to counter terrorist threats
The Pentagon is preparing to open a drone base in one of the remotest places on Earth: an ancient caravan crossroads in the middle of the Sahara.

After months of negotiations, the government of Niger, a landlocked West African nation, has authorized the U.S. military to fly unarmed drones from the mud-walled desert city of Agadez, according to Nigerien and U.S. officials.

The previously undisclosed decision gives the Pentagon another surveillance hub - its second in Niger and third in the region - to track Islamist fighters who have destabilized parts of North and West Africa. It also advances a little-publicized U.S. strategy to tackle counterterrorism threats alongside France, the former colonial power in that part of the continent.

Although the two allies have a sporadic history of quarreling when it comes to military action, U.S. and French troops have been working hand in glove as they steadily expand their presence in impoverished West Africa. Both countries are alarmed by the presence of jihadist groups, some affiliated with al-Qaeda, that have taken root in states whose governments are unable to exert control over their own territory.

In Niamey, Niger's capital, U.S. and French forces set up neighboring drone hangars last year to conduct reconnaissance flights over Mali, where about 1,200 French soldiers are trying to suppress a revolt that erupted in 2012.
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Quenelle

In your face, Barroso! Putin ready to release 'Kiev in two weeks' call recording


RT
Wed, 03 Sep 2014 14:54 UTC
putin
© RIA Novosti / Alexei Druzhinin
President Vladimir Putin.
Vladimir Putin's remark about "taking Kiev in two weeks" was taken out of context and its meaning was distorted, Moscow said, adding that it's ready to publish the president's conversation with the European Commission head.

Moscow may reveal the full recording of the controversial phone call if European Commission president, Jose Manual Barroso, doesn't object in the next two days, Russia's permanent representative to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov, said.

La Repubblica newspaper earlier reported that outgoing European Commission president, Jose Manual Barroso, disclosed the content of his telephone conversation with the Russian president before the EU summit, which took place in Berlin at the weekend.

According to the Italian daily, Barroso quoted Putin as saying: "If I want to, I can take Kiev in two weeks" after the issue of the presence of Russian troops in Ukraine was raised.

The EU official said that it was a "threat" by the head of the Russian state, which may be fulfilled in case of further European sanctions against Russia.

Presidential aide, Yury Ushakov, stressed that whether these words concerning Russian troops taking Kiev were pronounced by Putin or not, "this quote was taken out of context and had a very different meaning."

Comment: Even out of context, it hardly seems a threat, just a statement of fact. See also:

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Magnet

Gordon Duff: U.S. and NATO want access to Russia's unlimited resources


PressTV
Wed, 03 Sep 2014 14:14 UTC
Image
Press TV has interviewed political analyst Gordon Duff to talk about the sanctions the European Union has imposed on Russia over the crisis in Ukraine.

What follows is an approximate transcription of the interview:

Press TV: What are you reading from the latest situation coming out of Moscow, now basically saying that Ukraine should look at making this a state, as far as... what exactly do you think [Russian President Vladimir] Putin means by this?

Duff: I think that he is engaged in a political lawn game, playing with what he looks at as an attempted and resurgent NATO. NATO lost its military heath many years ago that it is trying to recreate its military presence right on Russia's border, built out of Polish artillery units, American missile systems, America's Navy in his backyard in the Black Sea and the American bases in Romania, while the heart of NATO, the third army, of 500,000 men in the middle of Germany, those people are long since gone.

The real NATO is long since gone. NATO right now is playing a simple political game, and frankly, I think he sees signs that NATOs lawn game is to move into Russia itself and do the same thing in Russia that they have done in Kiev.

Comment: Duff is half-right. The West probably does have designs on stealing Russia's natural resources. But what Duff is missing or not saying is that the U.S. is a psychopathic regime whose greed is limitless and thirst for death and destruction is never sated. It just so happens that Putin had the temerity to stand up to the American psychopathic bullies, so now they are hell-bent on bringing Putin down a peg or two. Too bad for them that they can't see beyond their own wishful thinking and realize how such an attitude will lead to their own destruction.

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Nuke

Russia states the obvious, again: British inquiry into Litvineko assassination will not be open and fair


RT
Wed, 03 Sep 2014 14:40 UTC
Litvinenko
© Unknown
poisoned former spy Alexander Litvinenko
The new British public inquiry into the death of ex-FSB operative Aleksandr Litvinenko is unlikely to be really open and fair, the Russian Foreign Ministry has said in a statement.

The ministry's release on Wednesday was a follow up to a move by Russia's top federal law enforcement body - the Investigative Committee - that officially refused to cooperate with the British side over fears that the inquiry would not be open.

Russian diplomats noted that the Investigative Committee had been fully participating in the process and voluntarily assisted the British coroner who investigated the case. The Russian agency shared evidence with the British police and other security services, but it expected to participate in the probe till its completion.

However, when the British government announced in July this year that it was launching an open inquiry into Litvinenko's death, it specified that some evidence in the case would be considered classified and the hearings on them would be closed. Therefore, neither Russian law enforcement nor the Russian public would have access to this data, the Foreign Ministry concluded.


Comment: You can be pretty certain Russia wasn't involved in any given scandal when they are the ones calling for truly unbiased and transparent investigations, while those asserting Russia's guilt refuse to present evidence. Witness MH17, for example.


"We have to state that the new 'public inquiry' in London is not going to be public. Whatever evidence the British authorities possess, it is obvious now that the British government will not allow this information to be used in an open process with the participation of Russian investigators. It is hard to imagine that such an inquiry will be objective," reads the ministry's statement.

"It is highly regrettable that after going all this way the British administration is either incapable or unwilling to hold a really open, transparent and unbiased investigation of this case."

Comment: See Joe Quinn's coverage of the Litvinenko Affair here:

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Chess

China demands UK gov't drop inquiry into Hong Kong democratic reforms


RT
Tue, 02 Sep 2014 14:58 UTC
Image
© Reuters / Tyrone Siu
A pro-democracy activist is detained by the police during a confrontation outside the hotel where China's National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee Deputy General Secretary Li Fei is staying, in Hong Kong.
Chinese authorities have demanded Britain drop an inquiry into the progress of democratic reforms in Hong Kong, accusing it of "highly inappropriate" interference in its internal affairs.

The UK Foreign Affairs Committee has been sent a letter from its Beijing counterpart after announcing plans in July to look into the state of democracy in Hong Kong. The territory was handed over to Chinese control in 1997, over a century-and-a-half after first being leased as a British Crown colony.

The letter said the probe would be a "highly inappropriate act which constitutes interference in China's internal affairs," according to the BBC.

The move would send "a wrong political signal to the outside world, and disrupted Hong Kong's political reform." It would also "have a negative impact on the relations between our countries."

The Chinese committee urged British lawmakers to "act with caution on the issue of Hong Kong, bear in mind the larger picture of China-UK relations and Hong Kong's prosperity and stability, stop interfering in Hong Kong's affairs and cancel the inquiry on UK-Hong Kong relations."

Comment: Given what Edward Snowden has revealed about Hong Kong and China:
"Snowden told the South China Morning Post that the NSA had hundreds of cyberespionage targets in mainland China and Hong Kong. "We hack network backbones - like huge internet routers, basically - that give us access to the communications of hundreds of thousands of computers without having to hack every single one," he said"
and this:
"Emily Lau, chair of the city's Democratic party, said: "For those of us in the political field, we always feel as if we're under surveillance anyway, whether it's from Hong Kong authorities or mainland authorities or the US. Hong Kong for many years has been known as a spy centre - many people come here to pursue espionage activities."
You have to wonder about the timing of Britain's feigned concern for Hong Kong's sovereignty.

By design? Snowden's selection of Hong Kong to break NSA Prism spying scandal will test China-US ties

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Propaganda

More sanctions, more lies, more idiocy: Russia has 1 week to stop doing what it is not doing!

Ian Traynor
Guardian UK
Sun, 31 Aug 2014 14:20 UTC

Comment: More nonsense propaganda from the Guardian. They're on a roll lately!


van rompuy

EU president and evil incarnate Herman Van Rompuy.
European Union leaders have given Russia a week to reverse course in Ukraine or face a new round of sanctions as Kiev warns it is on the brink of full-scale war with Moscow.


Comment: Imagine being told you have a week to stop beating your spouse, otherwise the authorities will cancel your credit card. The demand is absurd, based on a fabricated premise. Unless the EU is really telling Russia that it has a week to stop taking the peaceful, diplomatic, international law-based approach and start using real force. In other words, start a war or face sanctions.


Fears are growing that the confrontation on the EU's eastern borders could engulf the whole continent after Russia sent troops to back a new offensive by pro-Kremlin rebels in south-east Ukraine.


Comment: They didn't, and shame on the Guardian for regurgitating such unsubstantiated garbage.


The EU president, Herman Van Rompuy, said the 28 leaders meeting in Brussels had agreed to take "further significant steps" if Moscow did not back down.


Comment: How can Moscow "back down" when it is not involved?


Comment: To get some perspective of what's really going on in Ukraine at present:

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