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More chaos in the skies: Ukraine Air Force jet allegedly shot down by Russian plane

AP
Fox News
Thu, 17 Jul 2014 14:28 UTC
Sukhoi-25 jet
© Max Bryansky
Ukrainian Air Force Sukhoi-25 jet.
An Air Force fighter jet has been shot down by an air-to-air missile fired from a Russian plane, a spokesman for Ukraine's Security Council said Thursday.

Andrei Lysenko also said Ukrainian troops had been fired upon by missiles from a village just inside Russia.

Officials in Kiev have recently accused Russia's armed forces of being directly implicated in attacks on Ukrainian troops battling an insurgency near the border.

Lysenko said in a televised briefing that the pilot of the Sukhoi-25 jet that was hit on Wednesday evening was forced to bail out after his jet was shot down. He provided no further details.

Pro-Russia rebels, meanwhile, claimed responsibility for strikes Wednesday on two Ukrainian Sukhoi-25 jets.

Comment: Russia responds: Moscow sez allegations it shot down Ukrainian jet 'absurd'

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Handcuffs

Swedish court dismisses legal challenge to Assange arrest warrant


RT
Wed, 16 Jul 2014 14:20 UTC
Image
© Reuters/Anthony Devlin
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange
A Swedish court has upheld an arrest warrant for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who found shelter in Ecuador's embassy in London two years ago.

The Stockholm District Court moved to uphold the warrant on Wednesday following a legal challenge from Assange's lawyers in June. The challenge was spurred by a change to Swedish criminal proceedings regarding the right to information in criminal procedures which brings the country in line with an EU directive.
Verdict today: Julian #Assange is to REMAIN in detention in absentia. Just announced in Stockholm District Court. http://t.co/nOuKXtQiRd

- Rick Falkvinge (@Falkvinge) July 16, 2014
Swedish Judge Lena Egelin was quick to dismiss the legal challenge to Assange's arrest warrant, but noted that the decision could still be appealed.
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Airplane

Ukraine troops in E. Ukraine received powerful surface-to-air missile systems from Kiev just before Malaysian plane crash (Updated)


RT
Thu, 17 Jul 2014 14:10 UTC
buk
© RIA Novosti / Vadim Braydov
BUK.
The Ukrainian military has several batteries of Buk surface-to-air missile systems with at least 27 launchers, capable of bringing down high-flying jets, in the Donetsk region where the Malaysian passenger plane crashed, Russian Defense Ministry said.

"According to the Russian Defense Ministry information, units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine located in the crash-site are equipped with anti-aircraft missile systems of "Buk-M1" ... These complexes in their tactical and technical characteristics are capable of detecting air targets at ranges of up to 160 kilometers and hit them at full altitude range at a distance of over 30 kilometers," the ministry's statement reads as cited by Ria.

Earlier, Itar-Tass and Interfax news agencies are citing a source familiar with the issue, who said that another battery of Buk systems is currently being prepared for shipment to Donetsk region from the Ukrainian city of Kharkov.

The Donetsk region remains the scene of heavy fighting between government troops and the forces of the opposition, which refused to recognize the regime change in Kiev and demand federalization.

A Malaysian Airlines aircraft en route from Amsterdam to Malaysia crashed in Eastern Ukraine - not far from the Russian border - on Thursday.

There were reportedly 283 people and 15 crew members on board the Boeing-777 plane, who reportedly all died in the crash.

There were unconfirmed reports the Malaysian plane was travelling at an altitude of over 10,000 meters when it was allegedly hit by a missile.

Comment: At this point, it looks like Ukraine may have shot down the plane (thinking it was Russian? thinking it was Putin's plane?) and are now trying to blame Russia after their tragic error. That, or they shot it down on purpose, with the intent of blaming Russia. Either way, it's highly unlikely they're telling the truth by blaming Russia. In the last several months, practically every word out of Kiev has been a lie.

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Vader

Senator warns Obama immigration policy 'threatens foundations of our constitutional republic'

Matthew Boyle
breitbart.com
Tue, 15 Jul 2014 13:55 UTC
Image
Senate Budget Committee ranking member Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) has warned all of his colleagues in Congress that President Barack Obama's new immigration strategy - his plans to legalize millions of illegal alien adults through executive power - could destroy America as we know it.

"I write to inform you of a development that threatens the foundation of our constitutional Republic," Sessions, Congress's top immigration hawk, wrote in a letter that was hand-delivered to all 535 members of Congress on Monday and provided exclusively to Breitbart News.

Sessions cites a recent report from the National Journal, in which reporter Major Garrett detailed how, despite the ongoing crisis at the border, Obama plans to legalize anywhere from five to six million illegal alien adults in much the same way he did for illegal alien minors through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) in summer 2012.

"Obama made it clear he would press his executive powers to the limit," Garrett wrote on July 3, as cited by Sessions. "He gave quiet credence to recommendations from La Raza and other immigration groups that between 5 million to 6 million adult illegal immigrants could be spared deportation under a similar form of deferred adjudication he ordered for the so-called Dreamers in June 2012."
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War Whore

US taxpayers are funding Israeli war crimes


Press TV
Thu, 17 Jul 2014 01:17 UTC
israeli airstrike gaza

A Palestinian father holds the body of his son killed in a recent Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip.
With numbing regularity, Israel bombs the Gaza Strip, home to 1.8 million Palestinians, from the air, land, and sea, and the excuse is always the same: Hamas "terrorists" don't accept Israel's "right to exist." The specific trigger this time: the abduction and killing of three Israeli teenagers.

Hamas has publicly stated that it was not responsible for the deaths, and the claim is credible. It had just concluded reconciliation talks with Fatah, a popular move with the Palestinian public, which it was not likely to jeopardize.

Bombing Gaza is convenient for Israel for many reasons: It ends further progress on Palestinian unity talks. It ends focus on the failure of the Kerry peace talks during which Israel continued to announce illegal settlement construction. It reminds all Palestinians that they will suffer a similar fate if they have the temerity to defy Israel. And it unites Israelis like nothing else.

Following the abduction of three Israeli teenagers, Israeli politicians called for vengeance. Netanyahu called the perpetrators "human animals."

In the Knesset, deputy speaker Moshe Feiglin called for cutting off power to Gaza hospitals. This was not the first time an Israeli politician in the Knesset has advocated war crimes against Palestinians.

Comment: Unfortunately, this is unlikely to change soon as the majority of Americans are still blind to the reality of the crimes of Israel. This is in large part due to the overarching support and lies of the mainstream media which continues to ignore the plight of the Palestinians.

Only 14% of Americans sympathize with Palestinians. 73% of Republicans - and 44% of Democrats - sympathize with Israel
What the media isn't telling you about Israel's attack on Gaza
Whitewashing the Gaza massacre: Yet another online propaganda squad set up by Israeli students

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Blackbox

Was President Putin's plane the target for Ukrainian missile?


RT
Thu, 17 Jul 2014 13:39 UTC
Putin plane
© Unknown
Malaysian Airlines MH17 plane was travelling almost the same route as Russia's President Vladimir Putin's jet shortly before the crash that killed 295, Interfax news agency reports citing sources.

"I can say that Putin's plane and the Malaysian Boeing intersected at the same point and the same echelon. That was close to Warsaw on 330-m echelon at the height of 10,100 meters. The presidential jet was there at 16:21 Moscow time and the Malaysian aircraft - 15:44 Moscow time," a source told the news agency on condition of anonymity.

"The contours of the aircrafts are similar, linear dimensions are also very similar, as for the coloring, at a quite remote distance they are almost identical", the source added.

UPDATE:

At the same time, there have been reports contradicting Intefax's report that was the first and the only media source to publish the news, saying that Presidential plane was not flying over Ukraine at the same time.

As a source told Gazeta.ru online news portal, Putin's plane does take off from Vnukovo-3 [the terminal that accepts business jets], but the president does not fly over the conflict-gripped neighboring country.

"Putin has only one jet - Board One, he does not fly other planes. This plane always takes off from Vnukovo-3, but the presidential plane have not been flying over Ukraine for a while," the source at Vnukovo-3 terminal said.

President Putin was on his way from Brazil, where he attended the BRICS summit, to Moscow.
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Megaphone

Law professor warns Obama executive actions put U.S. in 'constitutional crisis'

Stephen Dinan
Washington Times
Tue, 15 Jul 2014 10:39 UTC
Image
© Jacquelyn Martin
Republicans file lawsuit in attempt to rein in president

A prominent law professor and avowed supporter of the Obama White House will tell the House on Wednesday that the president has created one of the biggest constitutional crises in the country's history and will endorse House Republicans' effort to sue to rein him in.

Jonathan Turley, a professor at George Washington University, will say President Obama is trampling the founders' vision for the country in his push to circumvent Congress, and he will demand Republicans and Democrats alike forget their party labels to unify against this White House's power grab.

"What we are witnessing today is one of the greatest challenges to our constitutional system in the history of this country," Mr. Turley said in a prepared testimony, saying it began with previous presidents but under Mr. Obama has "reached a constitutional tipping point that threatens a fundamental change in how our country is governed."
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Brick Wall

Spotlight on American and Israeli war crimes

Margaret Kimberley
Black Agenda Report
Wed, 16 Jul 2014 01:43 UTC
How should one describe the U.S.-Israeli relationship? "Co-conspirators"? "Co-dependents"? "Frenemies"? "The corporate media in the United States and other western nations ignore, minimize or tell outright lies about the ongoing massacre" of Palestinians, but surely the Israeli media would do the same for the U.S. How about "Co-enablers in War Crimes"?
US-Israel handshake
© www.presstv.ir
"Israelis in Sderot sit on a hilltop and watch bombs fall on homes, schools and hospitals that have now killed at least 185 people."

Of all the partners in international crime in existence right now, the United States and Israel are the worst. Along with their less powerful cohorts like Saudi Arabia they have instigated occupations and carnage on a mass scale. Yet while one hand washes the other, it isn't always clear who controls whom. Israel uses the political and economic muscle of its supporters to keep American politicians in line, but it also doesn't have to work very hard to find a receptive ear in Washington.

After killing American citizen Anwar al-Awlaki in 2011, the Obama administration refused to disclose the legal rationale for the assassination. Fortunately, Freedom of Information Act lawsuits brought by the New York Times and the American Civil Liberties Union revealed that Israel's war crimes were used as pretexts for American wrong doing.
A Department of Justice memorandum written by David Barron, now an Obama-appointed federal judge, legitimizes extra judicial killings on the grounds that Israel does the same thing. A 2006 Israeli Supreme Court decision ruled that targeted assassination of hundreds of Palestinians were legal and did not violate international law.
Actions by foreign governments are rarely used to justify American policy decisions. On any other subject Obama claims that the United States is exceptional and must be not just a leader in the world, but THE leader in the world. Apparently, claims of exceptionality end when it comes to explaining away state sponsored terror.

Comment: The U.S. spends more on Israel's military than Israel does itself. Directly, or indirectly, the U.S. has blood on its hands and runs the risk of extreme repercussions in continuing to be Israel's puppet and sugar daddy. Wake up America and see the carnage!

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Red Flag

EU cuts off its nose to spite Russia: Yields to US blackmail on sanctions


ITAR TASS
Thu, 17 Jul 2014 10:44 UTC
US sanctions Russia

http://en.itar-tass.com/world/741049
Moscow considers new package of the US sanctions against Russia "a primitive attempt at revenge for the course of events in Ukraine"

The European Union yielded to the US blackmail despite its own interests and chose the path of anti-Russian sanctions, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.

Moscow pointed to the conclusions of the European Council meeting about the situation in Ukraine on July 16.

"We are disappointed that the European Union, contrary to its interests, yielded to the US administration blackmail and went the path of anti-Russian sanctions," the Ministry said. "Brussels, like Washington, uses "the mirror world logic", where all problems are blamed on those who make real efforts to de-escalate the situation in Ukraine, while flagrant facts such as the incessant refugees flow from Ukraine to Russia, shelling of the Russian territory and other anti-Russian provocations are conspicuously hushed up.

Supporting anti-Russian sanctions, the European Union "takes responsibility for Kiev's ongoing military operation that kills people every day", the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

"Instead of using the opportunities available to start a dialogue between Kiev and respresentatives of the country's southeast, the European Union did bidding of those who advocate resolution of the internal Ukrainian conflict by force and provoking confrontation with Russia in this situation," the Ministry said.

Russia hopes that the European Union will put forward its own position in international affairs meeting interests of all countries on our continent.

Comment: It is interesting that the EU has yielded to US pressure despite the potential negative economic consequences. One might wonder what the US is holding over the heads of EU politicians?

Senior EU official: EU should avoid economic sanctions against Russia
Realism: Italian PM Renzi speaks against building Europe in opposition to Russia
Russia may impose retaliatory sanctions against West if third wave of isolation measures is introduced
Whistleblower explains 'massive blackmail' potential from NSA spying on politicians
Is NSA spying really about blackmail?

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Water

As California suffers drought, Nestle pumps water for bottling from tribal land

Travis Gettys
The Raw Story
Tue, 15 Jul 2014 09:53 UTC
Image
© Via facebook
Nestle continues to draw water to sell from wells located on a California reservation despite worsening drought conditions that have prompted conservation measures limiting personal use.

The company has been drawing water for more than a decade from wells near a spring on the Morongo Band of Mission Indians' reservation, but neighbors have grown concerned about the operation as the statewide drought continues into its third year.

"Why is it possible to take water from a drought area, bottle it, and sell it?" said Linda Ivey, a Palm Desert real estate appraiser.

The Desert Sun reported that Nestle Waters North America Inc., which leases the property from the tribe, had previously submitted annual reports on its groundwater extraction to local water districts.

Those reports show the company drew between 1,366 and 595 acre-feet from two wells in Millard Canyon that it then sold under the Arrowhead and Nestle Pure Life brands.

Comment: Water is gold in the greedy, resource-hoarding U.S. of A:
  • Profits for psychopathic corporations! Nestlé CEO says water should be privatized - not a basic human right
  • Water Wars: Corporations laying claim to the world's H20

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