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Netherlands ends funding for Syrian militant groups, did not live up to 'expectations'


RT
Mon, 10 Sep 2018 22:30 UTC
rebels
© Debating Europe
The Netherlands will end its support for Syrian militants, since the program did not yield the "expected" results. Earlier, journalists found one of the groups had been labeled 'terrorist' by the Dutch justice department.

"The opportunity to quickly change the situation [in Syria] is extremely small," reads the letter the lower house of the parliament by Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok and Minister for Foreign Trade Sigrid Kaag, announcing the end of support programs for the militants in Syria.

The program to support "moderate" anti-government groups in Syria was established in close cooperation with "like-minded donors who pursued the same goals as the Netherlands" and [has] cost the country over $80 million (some €69 million) over the years, according to the document. It failed to "bring the expected results," however, and is to be closed since the Syrian troops "will soon win" the war against militant groups.

Over the years, the Netherlands allocated $29 million (€25 million) to the so-called "non-lethal assistance" (NLA) program, $14.5 million (€12.5 million) were donated to the so-called White Helmets and $17.1 million (€14,8 million) went to the Access to Justice and Community Service (AJACS) program. The AJACS was supposedly designed to support "community police" work in Syria, specifically the so-called Free Syrian Police (FSP) group.

The support for militants is set to end immediately, yet the White Helmets will be funded until December, according to the document. Since the White Helmets now operate only in the Idlib province, which is believed to be the destination of the looming offensive by the Syrian Army and its allies, their future is quite doubtful, the document states.

Comment: The veil of lies, camouflaging the true nature and purpose of the terrorist entities, could not have been so opaque as to not raise questions and concerns over several years of war in Syria. How many other countries contributed to this proxy support system without monitoring, investigation or verification?

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Arrow Up

Xi Jinping: Unpredictable geopolitical climate increases importance of Russia-China ties


RT
Tue, 11 Sep 2018 11:14 UTC
XiPutin
© Free Press Kashmir
President Xi Jinping and President Vladimir Putin
An increasingly unpredictable geopolitical climate makes the partnership between Moscow and Beijing more important, Chinese leader Xi Jinping said during talks with President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday.

The two leaders met at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok in Russia's Far East. During the talks, Xi also advocated for both countries to team up against protectionism.

The Russian-Chinese partnership "allows us to jointly neutralize the external risks and challenges, and to assist joint development," Xi later told the delegation of Russian and Chinese governors.

Putin echoed Xi's position, saying that a lot depends on how Russian-Chinese ties play out. "Our relations are crucial, not only for our countries, but for the world as well," he said.

Xi and Putin agreed to work on boosting trade and to conduct more bilateral transactions in the Russian ruble and the Chinese yuan, rather than the US dollar. The decision to increase the number of yuan-ruble contracts between the nations was reached back in June.
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Dollars

Barbados' government and IMF reach a $290M economic assistance agreement


teleSUR
Sat, 08 Sep 2018 00:00 UTC
Barbadian PM Minister Mia Mottley
© Barbados Government Information Service
Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley (2nd from right) speaks at a press conference.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the government of Barbados have agreed on a staff-level USD$290 million economic assistance programme as part of the Extended Fund Facility. Bert van Selm, the IMF Chief of Mission, announced the agreement Friday during a press briefing with Prime Minister Mia Mottley.

The IMF's Executive Board is expected to consider the proposed arrangement by October and, once approved, Barbados will have immediate access to US$49 million, according to Barbados Today.

The IMF released an official statement on the agreement, stating that
"The success of Barbados' program will require an extraordinary effort and resolve on the part of the authorities and other segments of society, as well as broad international support. While the initial implementation period will be challenging, Barbados will emerge stronger and more dynamic from the program, and it will be better poised to generate growth and job creation for the people of Barbados." It concluded by declaring that the IMF "team would like to take this opportunity to thank Barbados' authorities and the technical team for their openness and candid discussions."

Comment: The IMF thanks Barbados for being their next cash cow.



Comment: There is no great future, on the near or far horizon, for any country at the mercy of the IMF. Buyer Beware. See also:

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Laptop

Russian domestic security service launches new center dedicated to counter cyberattacks


RT
Tue, 11 Sep 2018 09:46 UTC
FSB building Moscow
© Natalia Seliverstova/Sputnik
The Federal Security Service (FSB) on Lubyanka Square, Moscow.
Russia's Federal Security Service, the FSB, now has a separate coordination center created in order to prevent, detect and counter cyberattacks on critical infrastructure facilities as well as repair damage from such attacks.

The new agency is officially titled 'National Coordination Center for Computer Incidents' and it will be headed by Andrey Ivashko who is also the director of FSB's Center for Data Protection and Special Communications, Kommersant reported on Tuesday, quoting the order of FSB Director Aleksandr Bortnikov.

Kommersant wrote that the new center would receive reports about cyberattacks from all Russian state agencies, analyze them and develop various means of detection and prevention of attempts to affect critical objects of national infrastructure through the use of data technologies.

The official objectives of the new agency are "the exchange of information about computer incidents between various parts of the critical data infrastructure and also foreign and international organizations that work in the field of countering computer incidents." For this, the center will get some specially developed hardware.

Comment: The never-ending Russiagate fakery has produced 'a void' and therefore 'a need'. The US Intel agencies are undoubtedly capitalizing on this public perception to increase capabilities. Russian pro-active counter-measures are justified.

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Beer

Russia and China cooking up joint projects worth more than $100bn


RT
Tue, 11 Sep 2018 14:44 UTC
Putin Xi Jin Ping
© Sergei Bobylev / Reuters
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping make pancakes during a visit to the Far East Street exhibition on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russia
Russian and Chinese businesses have agreed to develop trade and economic cooperation as well as increased mutual investments at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok.

According to a statement from the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), the sides are considering 73 investment projects cumulatively worth more than $100 billion.

The group overseeing the potential billions in investment is the Russian-Chinese Business Advisory Committee, which includes more than 150 representatives from "leading Russian and Chinese companies."

RDIF said that seven projects worth a total of $4.6 billion have already been implemented as a result of work of the China-Russia group.

Comment: Meanwhile the US attempts to sanction the world into being its subordinates, and, alongside its 'partners', preps for another illegal bombing campaign on Syria. It's no wonder the West is seeing its economies fail and its cultures come to near ruin: Also check out SOTT radio's:

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Airplane

Niger: CIA builds a new drone base, one that may have launched the lethal Libya mission


RT
Mon, 10 Sep 2018 14:15 UTC
Drone
© US Air Force/Airman Cory D. Payne/Reuters
MQ-9 Reaper drone
Since February, the CIA have been developing a drone base in a tiny Niger town in the middle of the Sahara desert - which may have already been used to fly a lethal mission in southern Libya, the New York Times reports.

Located in the oasis town of Dirkou, the new base was built next to a civilian airport, growing into a large, wall-protected compound with five defensive positions surrounding the area, according to the newspaper. The rapid development can be seen on satellite images and has been confirmed by a report on the ground.

The base is operated by the CIA, the report said. It should not to be confused with the $110 million base in Agadez, located some 580km (360 miles) west and run by the Pentagon.


Dirkou's location is close to the border with Libya, the nation that remains fractured after a NATO-backed uprising that toppled strongman Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The southern desert part of Libya is awash with weapons smugglers and extremists, including Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, which operates across Algeria, Mali, Niger and Libya.
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Bullseye

Butina prosecutors wrote their own fictional James Bond novel with sex allegations - and the media loved it


RT
Tue, 11 Sep 2018 18:40 UTC
Maria Butina
© Facebook
Maria Butina
US prosecutors who wrongly accused Russian 'foreign agent' and gun activist Maria Butina of trading sex for influence peddled their own cheap James Bond fan fiction. No matter how incorrect, the media lapped it up.

Butina's request to be released until the time of her trial was declined by US District Judge Tanya Chutkan on Monday. Chutkan ruled that the Russian activist is to remain in jail until she's tried on the charges of acting as an unregistered agent for a foreign government. Butina has pleaded not guilty.

The judge has also slapped both the prosecution and the defense with a media gag order, after berating the defense attorney for giving interviews on his client's innocence and slamming the prosecution for opening the case with a "salacious" and "notorious" claim that proved to be completely false. Days after Butina was arrested in July, Assistant US Attorney Erik M. Kenerson claimed she was offering an individual "sex in exchange for a position within a special interest organization."

In a filing on Friday, prosecutors in the US attorney's office in Washington, including Kenerson, backtracked on the July allegation, and stressed that it "was based both on a series of text messages between the defendant and another individual." They admitted that the "government's understanding of this particular text conversation was mistaken."

Comment: Meanwhile, the Russian embassay has blasted US claims that frequent visits of its officials to jailed gun activist Maria Butina mean she is a valuable Kremlin asset, saying it treats all Russian citizens like that. These arguments "looks more like the legal grounds for Russophobia," the Russian embassy in Washington said in a statement on Monday, slamming the US prosecutors' logic as inherently flawed.

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Attention

Brexit secretary Raab under fire from Michel Barnier over failure to provide trade data for resolving Irish border issue

Daniel Boffey and Lisa O'Carroll
The Guardian
Sat, 08 Sep 2018 18:40 UTC
Dominic Raab and Michel Barnier
© Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Dominic Raab and Michel Barnier in Brussels on 31 August. Photograph:
Dominic Raab alleged to have failed to meet promise to provide vital facts

Michel Barnier has expressed his frustration with Dominic Raab, the Brexit secretary, for allegedly withholding information from the EU, as the question of the Irish border erupted again in the Brexit negotiations.

The EU negotiator was said to be "disappointed and irritated" by Raab's alleged failure this week to live up to a promise to provide data on the trade flows between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK, which had been requested as part of an attempt to take the drama out of the Irish border issue.

The backstop solution for avoiding a border between Northern Ireland and the Republic would result in the province effectively staying in the customs union and single market for goods as the rest of the UK withdraws. The British government has dismissed the backstop as it would "dislocate" the UK by creating a border in the Irish Sea.

Comment:

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Star of David

Israeli navy intercepts 20 vessel Gaza flotilla, injures at least 49 Palestinians using navy gunfire and suffocating gas bombs

Hidaya al-Saedi and Hani al-Shaer
Anadolu Agency
Mon, 10 Sep 2018 18:33 UTC
israel coast
At least 49 Palestinians were injured when the Israeli navy targeted a 20-vessel flotilla that set out Monday from the northern Gaza Strip in hopes of breaking the decade-long blockade of the coastal enclave.

The people were wounded by gunfire and suffocation by gas bombs, the Palestinian Health Ministry said in a statement. Some 10 wounded have been transferred to hospitals for treatment, the ministry added.

Eye witnesses told Anadolu Agency the injured included Atiyyeh Hijazi, a journalist who works for Iran's Al-Alam television channel.
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Light Saber

Florida rep DeSantis quits Congress amid ridiculous claims of racism-by-association - will concentrate on election campaign for governer


RT
Tue, 11 Sep 2018 17:35 UTC
desantis vitterand
© Yuri Gripas / Reuters
A protester holds a placard behind Senator David Vitterand and Rep. Ron DeSantis during a 2013 news conference in Washington DC
Florida's Republican gubernatorial candidate is being accused of racism again, over past appearances at a conference hosted by a prominent anti-Islam activist. Ron DeSantis has resigned from the House to focus on the campaign.

DeSantis, who represented Florida's 6th congressional district since 2013, spoke at the David Horowitz Freedom Center's annual 'Restoration Weekend' conferences in 2013, 2015, 2016, and 2017. Horowitz is a staunch conservative, an outspoken critic of diversity, and has said that liberalism and Islam are existential threats to whites in America.

The Washington Post first pounced on the story on Sunday. However, the paper reported that DeSantis' speeches at the conferences did not touch on issues of race, but attacked Democratic policies.

Comment: There may be a hidden motive for attempting to smear Rep. DeSantis. He has been one of the more energetic members of the Congressional committee looking into Russiagate.

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