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Rosoboronexport CEO says Russia will deliver S-400 missile systems to Turkey in 2019


RFE/RL
Tue, 21 Aug 2018 19:20 UTC
Russian-made S-400 missiles
© Sergei Malgavko (TASS)
Washington has voiced concern over NATO-member Turkey's purchase of Russian-made S-400 missiles
Russia's state arms exporter, Rosoboronexport, says it will begin delivering its advanced S-400 antiaircraft missile systems to Turkey in 2019.

Rosoboronexport also said on August 21 that it would stop conducting its sales to foreign customers in U.S. dollars, allowing purchases in local currencies.

The announcement comes as Turkey faces a crisis over its weakening lira currency amid worsening relations with the United States.

Comment: Turkey will receive its first batch of S-400 air defense systems next year under a deal with Russia, arms exporter Rosoboronexport said. Washington pressured Ankara to drop the purchase amid tensions between the two NATO allies.
"The contract [on the S-400 supplies to Turkey] will be implemented within the agreed time limits. In 2019 we will start implementing the contract," the company's director general and CEO Aleksandr Mikheev told reporters on Tuesday.
See also: Turkey will receive first deliveries of Russian S-400 missile systems in 2019

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Oil Well

United by US sanctions: China sticks to Iranian oil imports, while Iran could trade with Crimea through Azerbaijan


RT
Tue, 21 Aug 2018 18:55 UTC
South Pars Gas field in Asalouyeh Seaport
© Reuters / Reuters
South Pars Gas field in Asalouyeh Seaport, north of Persian Gulf, Iran
Chinese refiners have shifted to Iranian-owned tankers for nearly all of their Iranian oil imports as other shipping firms stop their operations in the country due to threats of US sanctions.

Chinese state-owned oil trading corporation Zhuhai Zhenrong and the largest Asian refiner activated clauses in their long-term supply contracts with Iran to use tankers owned by the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC), Reuters reports, citing sources close to the issue. Moreover, the Islamic Republic is reportedly shouldering the costs and risks of delivering the crude to China and is handling the insurance.

The shipping data compiled by Thomson Reuters Eikon shows that all the 17 tankers chartered to carry oil from Iran to China last month were run by the Iranian firm, while in June eight of 19 vessels were Chinese operated.

Comment: US-sanctioned Iran is interested in doing business with Russia's Crimea, according to the authorities from the Russian region, which is also facing sanctions from Washington and Brussels.
The trade route would connect Crimea's ports with Iran's Caspian coast via the Volga-Don Canal, Georgy Muradov, Crimea's permanent representative under the Russian president told Izvestiya.

Crimea has no sea border with Iran, but is linked to the Caspian through the rivers Volga and Don which connect to the Azov Sea.

"Trade will be made possible by the launch of rail traffic. The planned rail route is Crimea - the North Caucasus - Azerbaijan - Iran,"Muradov added.

The connection between Crimea and Iran could be part of a much larger project. Moscow and Tehran have long been interested in developing the North-South transport corridor. Part of it will go along the western coast of the Caspian Sea from Russia to Iran through Azerbaijan.


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TV

MSM finally concedes defeat on Yemen and ceases its blackout of coverage

Caitlin Johnstone
caitlinjohnstone.com
Mon, 20 Aug 2018 14:38 UTC
CNN Yemen
Last month, an article by Fair.org went viral in republications by popular alternative media outlets ranging from Salon to Zero Hedge to Alternet to Truthdig, among many others. The article was initially titled "ACTION ALERT: It's Been Over a Year Since MSNBC Has Mentioned US War in Yemen", but many subsequent republications went with variations on the more attention-grabbing headline, "MSNBC has done 455 Stormy Daniels segments in the last year - but none on U.S. war in Yemen".

The centerpiece of the article was the following graphic, which I saw shared on its own many times in my social media feeds:
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Arrow Down

Retired Ukrainian Colonel says the Ukrainian Army 'is on the verge of collapse'

Joaquin Flores
Fort Russ
Tue, 21 Aug 2018 12:35 UTC
Ukraine army
The Ukrainian military has never been able to turn into a battle-worthy army of the modern type, which the Ukrainian experts hoped for in 2014.

Regarding this, a correspondent for "Political Navigator" got these comments and others from retired colonel, ex-officer of the General Staff of the Supreme Council of Ukraine, Oleg Zhdanov, whose opinion is cited by the Kiev magazine "Focus".
"I had hopes that the volunteer battalions formed in 2014 and the newly created National Guard would form the basis of a fundamentally new system for building an army of the modern type. But this did not happen. Now the situation is close to the one that was in 2013 "
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2 + 2 = 4

'Be Careful About What You Believe' - Ken Livingstone on US, UK Media Bias & Lies

Ken Livingstone
RT.com
Tue, 21 Aug 2018 12:00 UTC
Media manipulation
Today it seems like we are in another Cold War. It was breathtaking to watch our PM Theresa May immediately blaming Russia for the poisoning of the Skripals before the police had conducted their investigation into the evidence.

Growing up after the Second World War our news was dominated by the threat from the Soviet Union, but when the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991 I don't think anyone could have guessed that just over two decades later we would be once again talking about the threat from Russia. Anyone who only gets their news from the British or American media is kept in ignorance of the truth; the endless accusations about the Skirpal poisoning or the conflict over Crimea is presented in a completely biased way in which most of the facts are ignored. But there is nothing new about this: dishonest reporting and lies dominated the whole of the Cold War in the days of the Soviet Union.

Although President John Kennedy in the United States started out with quite a right-wing agenda with one of his 1960 election promises being to close the missile gap with the Soviet Union, he rapidly changed and began to throw the weight of his administration behind the struggle to end racism in America's deep south. Also, if he hadn't been assassinated, he was planning to withdraw American troops from Vietnam if he had been re-elected in 1964 because he realized a full-scale war in Vietnam would be a disaster.
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Bizarro Earth

Imagine if the world started using US logic in its relations with America

Neil Clark
RT
Mon, 20 Aug 2018 13:42 UTC
US Marine Hussein
© Goran Tomasevic / Reuters
A US Marine covers the face of a statue of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein with a US flag, Baghdad, April 9, 2003
You're sanctioned! You're bombed! You're invaded! The US has plenty of punishments lined up for states which it claims are doing things wrong. But what if the rest of the world held the US to the same standards?

Last Thursday was quite an unusual day. The US didn't impose new sanctions on anyone. Not unless I missed it while I was lying on my sofa with tendonitis (cured after a day, I'm pleased to say, by my wife's 'Two-Pointing').

At present the US operates active sanctions programs against almost 20 countries: from Belarus to Zimbabwe. And guess what? By and large the reasons the US gives for sanctioning these countries could just as equally be used to sanction the US.

Let's look at the recently re-imposed sanctions on Iran, some of which came into force on August 6, with others set for November 4. The financial punishments don't just target Iran. In a particularly nasty, school playground-style bullying tactic they target countries and foreign financial institutions which trade with Iran too. The Islamic Republic is accused of "malign behavior." Of being a leading, sorry, make that "THE world's leading state sponsor of terror."

In fact Tehran's crime has been to help defeat the terrorism, euphemistically described as "rebel activity,"supported by the US and its regional allies in Syria.

Comment: If the US is exceptional at anything it would be constant lies, hypocrisy, war, oppression, usurpation, terror, betrayal, immorality and all out destruction - both at home and abroad. See also:

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Attention

Memo outlines how Soros funded groups plan to work with Facebook and Twitter to eliminate Conservative content

Jim Hoft
Gateway Pundit
Mon, 20 Aug 2018 10:03 UTC
Shareblue
In January 2017 after Hillary Clinton was shellacked in the November 2016 election top Democrat operatives at Media Matters, Share Blue, American Bridge, and CREW came together and released their two-year plan to take back power in Washington DC.

Share Blue is a far left website that works with the Democrat party and claims to reach 140 million people a month.

The Washington Free Beacon obtained a copy of this document

The Free Beacon published this lengthy document by David Brock, the founder of Soros-funded Media Matters website, from a January donor retreat.

The 49 page memo outlined how the George Soros-funded groups Media Matters, American Bridge, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and Shareblue planned to undermine President Trump's agenda and help Democrats win control of Congress and the White House by 2020.

On page two of the plan these top far left organizations announced their strategy. They will work with the tech giants to eliminate "right wing propaganda and fake news."

Comment: See also:

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Bizarro Earth

Russia confirms Taliban's participation in Afghanistan reconciliation meeting


Sputnik
Tue, 21 Aug 2018 05:32 UTC
taliban
© REUTERS/Stringer
Representatives of the Taliban movement will attend the Moscow format of Afghan reconciliation talks scheduled for September 4, Russian Foreign Ministry's Second Asian Department Director Zamir Kabulov said Monday.

On Monday, Kabulov told Sputnik that Russia expected the Taliban to participate in the upcoming conference. Later in the day, the Wall Steet Journal reported citing sources that Taliban representatives had agreed to participate in this meeting. Afghan Ambassador to Russia Abdul Qayyum Kochai told Sputnik that Kabul did not mind the participation of the Taliban in the meeting.

"Yes, they will come on September 4. Preparation for the meeting is now underway," Kabulov told the Izvestiya newspaper.

Russian Foreign Ministry noted that Moscow maintains contacts with the Taliban only to ensure the safety of Russian citizens in Afghanistan and to encourage this group to join the process of national reconciliation. In March 2018, Kabulov said that contacts between Moscow and the Taliban had been established several years ago, when Russia was seriously concerned about the possibility of terrorist threats to Russian overseas institutions and citizens. The diplomat stressed the importance to clarify the plans of the Taliban leadership towards the Russians, and Moscow received assurances that the Taliban had no hostile intentions towards Russian citizens and institutions.

Comment: As with Syria, Russia is doing all it can to involve all willing groups in discussion in a bid to quell the violence, and that includes the Western-backed terrorists. But if Russia's experience of ISIS in Syria is anything to go by, the ceasefire is likely to suffer repeated sabotage:

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Smoking

Australia abandons emissions targets agreed at Paris climate change conference

Harry Cockburn
Independent
Mon, 20 Aug 2018 12:00 UTC
Malcolm Turnbull
© EPA
Malcolm Turnbull tells MPs his government has dropped plans to put an emissions reduction target into legislation
Embattled Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has abandoned plans to set a new emissions reduction target, following a revolt by MPs in his own government amid a potential leadership challenge.

Mr Turnbull's signature energy policy - the National Energy Guarantee - contained a pledge to cut Australia's emissions by 26 per cent, based on 2005 levels, by 2030. The laws would have helped the country meet its obligations under the Paris climate agreement.

But after rebel Liberal Party MPs led by former prime minister Tony Abbott threatened to vote against the legislation - which would have triggered a crisis of confidence in Mr Turnbull - the PM decided to back down.

Comment: Drought conditions do not equal global warming - rebranded as anthropogenic climate change. Like vast swathes of the planet, Australia is experiencing extreme drought conditions, but, like the other vast swathes of our planet, it's also seeing record breaking cold temperatures, snow and flooding: Also check out SOTT radio's: Behind the Headlines: Earth changes in an electric universe: Is climate change really man-made?

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Rocket

Dozen missiles fired at Presidential Palace, diplomatic zone in Kabul


RT
Tue, 21 Aug 2018 09:30 UTC
Rockets fired towards diplomatic area near presidential palace in Kabul
© RT
Rockets fired towards diplomatic area near presidential palace in Kabul
At least a dozen missiles have been fired in Kabul, with some targeting the Presidential Palace and diplomatic zone in the capital of Afghanistan. The attack came as President Ashraf Ghani was speaking at an Eid prayer ceremony.

The attack on the palace and the diplomatic zone occurred early on Tuesday, according to Tolo news. The outlet said, citing officials, that at least 12 missiles exploded in the area, adding that locals say there might have been more than 20.

The first rocket hit somewhere near the presidency, the second near a NATO compound and the US Embassy in Kabul, AP reported citing a police official. Black smoke was seen rising from the buildings as military helicopters were flying above the city's old quarter, where clashes are reportedly ongoing.
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