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UN report says "unlikely" Yemen responsible for Saudi oil attack, Iran slams US' baseless accusations


RT
Mon, 17 Feb 2020 23:18 UTC
Aramco
© REUTERS/Hamad l Mohammed
FILE PHOTO: Workers are seen at the damaged site of Saudi Aramco oil facility in Abqaiq, Saudi Arabia, September 20, 2019.
Tehran slammed the US for using a recent UN report to peddle its Saudi oil attack claims, accusing Washington of "clutching at every straw" to back up the allegations, while the report itself is based on shaky hypotheses.

"Just hours after the attack on Saudi oil facilities on September 14, 2019, the US baselessly attributed it to Iran, but has failed so far to present any shred of evidence. Now, it clutches at every straw to seemingly prove its allegation," the Iranian mission to the UN stated on Saturday. It was responding to the US mission doubling down on the White House's claim that Iran was behind the September 14 twin attacks on facilities owned by Saudi oil giant Aramco in Abqaiq and Khureys.

Responsibility for the attacks that briefly disrupted operations at the Abqaiq oil plant - the largest oil processing facility in the world - was claimed by Houthi rebels, who are embroiled in a five-year-long war with the ousted President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi backed by the Saudi-led coalition. However, immediately after the attacks took place, the US pointed the finger at Tehran without waiting for any fact-finding mission to be sent to the sites.

Comment: See also:

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Question

Bloomberg campaign downplays, but doesn't deny reports he may take Hillary as running mate


RT
Sat, 15 Feb 2020 19:51 UTC
Michael Bloomberg and Hillary Clinton in Singapore, July 2005.
© Reuters / Bazuki Muhammad
Michael Bloomberg and Hillary Clinton in Singapore, July 2005.
A spokesman for Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg has brushed off a report he's considering taking on Hillary Clinton as a running mate without denying the rumor, and reaction on Twitter was unstoppable.

Matt Drudge of the Drudge Report claimed on Saturday that Bloomberg's campaign considers the idea of a Mike/Hillary ticket a "formidable force." Citing sources "close to" the campaign, Drudge said that Bloomberg would go as far as changing his official residence from New York to one of his properties in Colorado or Florida, "since the electoral college makes it hard for a POTUS and VPOTUS from the same state."

However, Clinton has spent much of the last three years disputing the results of the 2016 election, blaming Russia, the FBI, Bernie Sanders, sexism, and more for her loss to Donald Trump. As such, rumors of her planned entry into the 2020 race have repeatedly surfaced, only to be shot down by her communications team.

Comment: See: And finally, there it is: Rumors circulating that Bloomberg wants Hillary Clinton for running mate

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Pirates

50+ US military vehicles arrive in Syria from Iraq - reports


Sputnik
Sun, 16 Feb 2020 12:16 UTC
iraq vehicles
© REUTERS / John DavisonMiddle East
The US has repeatedly announced its military withdrawal from Syria, however, American troops are still present there. US President Donald Trump announced the fall of the Islamic State's five-year "caliphate" in March 2019, and added that the US would "remain vigilant until [IS] is finally defeated".

A convoy of US military vehicles has arrived from Iraq to Al-Hasakah province in northeastern Syria, Sham FM broadcaster reported.

According to its post on Facebook, at least 55 vehicles, including tanks and engineer equipment, entered the province from Iraq.

The US-led coalition has been fighting against the Daesh* terrorist organisation in Syria and Iraq since 2014. In Syria, the presence of the coalition has not been authorised either by the country's government or by the UN Security Council's mandate. Last year, Washington announced the fall of the so-called "Islamic State caliphate" but added that it would stay in Syria to prevent the resurgence of the terrorist network. To justify his army's prolonged stay in Syria, US President Donald Trump said that there was the need to "keep the oil" and prevent it from being taken by the remaining terrorists.

Comment: This comes on the heels of news that the Syrian government has liberated Aleppo from the foreign-backed terrorists:

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Brick Wall

Pentagon to divert $3.8 billion from its budget to build more of Trump's border barrier

Paul Sonne and Nick Miroff
Source
Fri, 14 Feb 2020 00:27 UTC
border wall arizona
© Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post
Border barrier construction continues up a mountain in the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in Lukeville, Ariz., on Jan. 7.
The Defense Department said it is diverting $3.83 billion from elsewhere in its budget to build ­177 more miles of President Trump's border barrier, setting in motion a broader White House plan to take some $7.2 billion from the Pentagon budget this year for the project without congressional approval as Trump heads into the election.

The Pentagon informed Congress on Thursday of its plans to divert the $3.83 billion from the purchase of aircraft and other equipment and instead use the funds for the construction of border barriers. The Pentagon is moving the money using a counternarcotics law that allows the Defense Department to build fencing for other federal, state and local agencies in known drug-smuggling corridors.

According to budget documents reviewed by The Washington Post, the Pentagon is pulling the funding from two F-35 fighter jets and two Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft for the Marine Corps; one P-8A reconnaissance aircraft for the Navy; and four C-130J transport planes and eight MQ-9 Reaper drones for the Air Force.

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Sheriff

"Remember what unites us": Lavrov calls out NATO for stoking tensions in Europe


RFE/RL
Sat, 15 Feb 2020 16:41 UTC
Serguei Lavrov
© Sputnik / Maxim Blinov
FILE PHOTO: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
Russia's foreign minister has accused NATO, and Europe more broadly, of stoking tensions on the continent, as he called on leaders to "abandon the phantom of the Russian threat."

Speaking on February 15 at the Munich Security Conference, Sergei Lavrov made no mention of the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, where a nearly six-year conflict between Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed fighters has killed more than 13,000 people.

The war in eastern Ukraine and Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea Peninsula led to Western sanctions, Russia being kicked out of the Council of Europe, and other punitive measures.

Comment: See also: Arab media's full interview with Putin: Russia 'does not build alliances against anyone'

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Bizarro Earth

US-led coalition military base 'impacted' after multiple rockets fired at Baghdad's Green Zone


RT
Sun, 16 Feb 2020 00:51 UTC
Baghdad
© Global Look Press / Xinhua / Khalil Dawood
FILE PHOTO: A security member guards an entrance to the Green Zone, Baghdad, Iraq
The US-led coalition has confirmed its base in Iraq was hit after the heavily fortified Green Zone came under rocket fire on Saturday night, with multiple blasts reported in the vicinity of the US Embassy.

The US-led coalition says its base in Baghdad was "impacted" by "small rockets" around 3:24am local time. An investigation into the incident is underway, it added.

The attack did not result in any casualties, Col. Myles Caggins, spokesman for Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Resolve (CJTF-OIR), stated on Twitter, without providing any details.

The explosions allegedly rocked Union III coalition base which sits just across the street from the diplomatic compound.

Comment: See also:

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Attention

Assange's extradition case: A critical moment for the anti-war movement

Nozomi Hayase
The Mind Unleashed
Sun, 16 Feb 2020 01:47 UTC
Free Assange
The prosecution of Julian Assange sets a dangerous precedent for anti-war journalists.

Earlier this week, Leader of the UK opposition Jeremy Corbyn challenged Prime Minister Boris Johnson in the House of Commons on the US extradition request for WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange.

Corbyn stated that Assange had been charged by the US "for exposing war crimes, the murder of civilians and large-scale corruption". Backing the Council of Europe, who warned that the prosecution of Assange sets a dangerous precedent for journalists and called for his immediate release, he asked:

"Will the Prime Minister agree with the Parliamentary report that's going to the Council of Europe that this extradition should be opposed and the rights of journalists and whistleblowers upheld for the good of all of us?"
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Broom

Queen Elizabeth won't get involved in Julian Assange case because it's a POLITICAL matter - Buckingham Palace


RT
Sun, 16 Feb 2020 16:56 UTC

Comment: This may in fact be Her Majesty's way of weighing in on it... she has exposed it - inadvertently or otherwise - to be a POLITICAL, not a legal matter.


Queen Elizabeth II and Julian Assange
© Reuters / Richard Pohle and Henry Nicholls 52
Queen Elizabeth II and Julian Assange
A Buckingham Palace spokeswoman has said the Queen will not intervene to release Julian Assange, vowing to remain "non-political." The statement seemingly confirms that Assange's detention is a political, not criminal, matter.

With WikiLeaks founder Assange holed up in HM Prison Belmarsh awaiting extradition to the US, activist Chris Lonsdale penned a letter to Queen Elizabeth II last month, asking the monarch to "ensure that Mr. Julian Assange is freed from Belmarsh Prison unconditionally," in the spirit of "justice, peace and fair-mindedness."

In a reply posted by Lonsdale on Sunday, a spokeswoman for the Queen said that Her Majesty "remains strictly non-political at all times," and Assange's detention is therefore "not a matter in which the Queen would intervene."

Assange's supporters have long argued that his arrest and imprisonment are motivated by politics, not justice. Assange has languished in Belmarsh since his arrest inside London's Ecuadorian embassy last April, ostensibly on charges of skipping bail in 2012. He is also facing extradition to the US to answer to a litany of espionage charges, related to WikiLeaks' publication of classified US military documents detailing potential war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. If convicted, he faces 175 years in prison.

Comment: See also:

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Dollars

Sanders surging in polls, worried Israeli lobby drops big chunk of change on sinking his Nevada chances


RT
Sat, 15 Feb 2020 19:22 UTC
bernie sanders Nevada caucus
© Reuters / Shannon Stapleton
Bernie Sanders speaks during a campaign rally in Las Vegas, Nevada, February 15, 2020
After emerging as the Democratic frontrunner in wake of Iowa and New Hampshire primaries, Bernie Sanders heads to Nevada leading in polls but facing new opposition: the Israel lobby and its vast cash reserves.

Despite being pipped at the post in Iowa by Pete Buttigieg (with the help of a malfunctioning voting app, his supporters claim), Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders came out victorious in last week's New Hampshire primary. With the Nevada primary just a week away, a Morning Consult poll published this week put the progressive senator ten points ahead of Joe Biden, the former vice president and until now, the supposed frontrunner for the 2020 nomination.

While the news has energized Sanders' supporters, it's also motivated mainstream Democrats and establishment talking heads, who've taken to slamming Sanders as a "communist," and a "left-wing version of Trump."

Comment: All the hue and cry about Sander's position on Israel is just theatrics. In the end he is a soft supporter, whom Israel doesn't really need to worry about.

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Star of David

Chairman of Republicans in Israel: 'Immediate' implementation of peace deal impossible

Elizabeth Blade
Sputnik
Sun, 16 Feb 2020 18:58 UTC
Israel border police west bank qalqilya
© Associated Press / Majdi Mohammed
Israeli border police officers, stand in the village of Azzun near the West Bank city of Qalqilya
After announcing Israel would be able to "immediately" extend its sovereignty over vast areas of the West Bank, the US seems to be dragging its feet, warning against taking unilateral steps before the elections. But an Israeli lawyer refutes allegations that Washington backtracked from the plan, saying the sides should draw up detailed maps first.

Two weeks ago, the US administration rocked the boat when it revealed its 'deal of the century' plan, aimed at resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The initiative stipulated that the Jewish state would be able to "immediately" bite off big chunks of the West Bank - including the Jordan Valley, which makes some 30 percent of the area - in exchange for vast areas that would be given to the Palestinians in the Negev desert.

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