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Ex-colleague: Detained Iranian journalist 'mistreated in prison, family kept in the dark'


RT
Sat, 19 Jan 2019 02:09 UTC
Nargess Moballeghi
© RT
Nargess Moballeghi, an independent journalist and a former colleague of US-born Press TV journalist Marzieh Hashemi, speaks to RT about Hashemi's detention in the US.
US-born journalist Marzieh Hashemi had her religious rights violated in jail, where she was put shortly after coming to the US from Iran, her representative has told RT. Her family, meanwhile, has received no answers from the FBI.

Nargess Moballeghi, an independent journalist and former colleague of Hashemi, who was detained by US federal agents in St. Louis on Sunday, told RT that the 59-year-old's family has been kept in the dark by the US authorities about the cause of their mother and grandmother's detention.

Hashemi is a US citizen who was born in New Orleans into a Christian African-American family. She converted to Islam in the wake of the 1979 Islamic revolution and has gained recognition for anchoring programs on Press TV, an English-language Iranian network.

Hashemi was detained by the FBI as she was about to board an internal US flight from Lambert International Airport in St. Louis to Denver, meaning that when the FBI swooped down on her, she had already crossed the US border, Moballeghi told RT, speaking on Hashemi's behalf.


Comment: For more on the detainment of Marzieh Hashemi:

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Stop

Turkey opposes Damascus taking control in Manbij


Sputnik
Fri, 18 Jan 2019 16:40 UTC
Manbij border
© Sputnik
Syrian armed forces deployed along Manbij Border, Aleppo Province, December 30, 2018.
Ankara opposes the presence of Syrian government troops in Manbij and considers clearing the region of the Kurdish-led People's Protection Units (YPG) a matter of national security, the Turkish Foreign Ministry's spokesman Hami Aksoy said Friday.

Aksoy told reporters:
"In no case can we facilitate provocations by the Syrian regime [Damascus] in Manbij, as well as attempts by members of the YPG to open the door to the regime's forces. Clearing the YPG out of Manbij is a matter of national security for us. The terrorist attack in Manbij once again showed the importance of clearing the region of terrorists and the need to implement the road map for Manbij."
His comments come after on Wednesday, about two dozen people, including up to five US servicemen, were killed in Manbij in an explosion for which the Daesh terrorist group claimed responsibility.

In December, the YPG announced its withdrawal from Manbij and called on Damascus to take control of the city to protect the area in the event Ankara launched a military operation against the Kurds.

Comment: More from Sputnik 1/18/2019:
Former US Special Envoy for the Global Coalition to defeat the Daesh terror group Brett McGurk said that Turkey is not a reliable partner in Syria as the United States prepares to withdraw military forces from the country. Turkey cannot operate in Syria without substantial US military support, he added.

Discussions are underway to have the Turkish military or Turkish-backed opposition fighters moved into areas of northeastern Syria that are now controlled by the SDF. Any such move, he said, would spark chaos and create an environment for extremists to thrive. The entry of Turkish-backed opposition forces would also likely displace thousands of Kurds and threaten vulnerable Christian communities in areas of eastern Syria, he added.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan...had decided to postpone the start of the military operation in Syria after a phone conversation with Trump on December 14, during which the US president also revealed his plans to withdraw troops from Syria.


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Snakes in Suits

Former PM Hekmatyar joins Afghanistan presidential race in 2019


Sputnik
Sat, 19 Jan 2019 17:33 UTC
Supporters Hekmatyar
© AFP/AREF KARIMI
Supporters of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
Former Afghan prime minister, warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar on Saturday announced that he will run in the country's presidential elections in July 2019, Afghanistan's 1TV channel reported.

The channel reported, citing Hekmatyar, that the former insurgent would run for the presidency as an independent candidate.

Hekmatyar noted that the current Afghan government was a reason for the continuing war in the country, and the system must be changed in a peaceful way.

On December 30, the Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan announced that the country's presidential election, initially scheduled for April 20, would be pushed back to July 20 due to the problems the country faced during the parliamentary elections in October 2018 and the preparation of talks on a peace agreement with the Taliban radical movement.

In September 2016, the Afghan government signed a peace agreement with Hekmatyar's Hezb-e Islam faction, which has waged a violent insurgency against the government for the past 15 years. Since 2001 Hezb-e Islami has launched attacks on both US and Afghan forces.

Hekmatyar headed a notorious opposition faction against the Afghan government during the 1979-1989 civil war. He served as prime minister in the mujahideen government when another civil war raged from 1992 to 1996, before defecting to help the Taliban take over the country. Rights groups claim he is responsible for torturing and murdering scores of civilians including Soviet troops.
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Star of David

Lock him up: Israeli AG advises Netanyahu be indicted over corruption case


Sputnik
Sat, 19 Jan 2019 19:57 UTC
netanyahu
© Reuters
Police have been investigating three corruption cases, namely Case 1000, Case 2000, and Case 4000, against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu since 2017. His office has repeatedly denied the allegations, labelling them "fake news".

Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandleblit is due to announce his decision on the indictment of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in one of the corruption cases against him in the next few weeks, a legal source was cited by Israel's Hadashot TV as saying on Saturday.

The AG has already decided to recommend the PM be indicted over Case 4000, the source added. Mandleblit reportedly plans to summon Netanyahu for a pre-indictment hearing by mid-February.

"It's a question of professionalism," Mandleblit stressed, in a statement that came after he rejected Netanyahu's request that the indictment be delayed in light of Israeli elections.

The indictment is related to an investigation into the Bezeq-Walla corruption affair, also known as Case 4000.
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Attention

Docs reveal US training of UAE troops for combat in Yemen - despite official denials

Nick Turse
Yahoo News
Wed, 16 Jan 2019 19:15 UTC
yemen cluster bomb
© Hani Mohammed/AP
A Yemeni man displays an American-made cluster bomb in Sanaa, Yemen, October 2016.
When the Pentagon announced last November that it was ceasing aerial refueling of Saudi-led coalition aircraft operating in Yemen, the move appeared to be a major step back from U.S. support for the war there. But newly obtained documents reveal that the United States has also been training coalition military personnel from the United Arab Emirates for the air war in Yemen.

The documents underscore the continuing frustrations for critics of the war, including those in Congress, over the lack of transparency around U.S. military support for a war that has killed thousands of civilians and pushed the country to the brink of famine.

The United States is "not a participant in the civil war in Yemen nor are we supporting one side or the other," Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said last month, echoing a long-held position in the Pentagon.

But official Air Force documents obtained by Yahoo News show that the U.S. military has been even more deeply involved in that war than previously indicated. Despite unambiguous claims by the U.S. military to the contrary, the United States has trained members of the Saudi-led coalition, specifically, according to the files, "for combat operations in Yemen."

The files, obtained from Air Forces Central Command via the Freedom of Information Act, appear to tell a different story. "Escorted 6 UAE F-16s to RED FLAG" - reads a December 2017 Air Force document referring to an advanced aerial combat training exercise held for U.S. and allied pilots - "assisted 150 airmen in challenging ex[ercise] to prepare for combat ops in Yemen." The document goes on to detail additional support provided by the U.S. Air Force's Air Warfare Center at Al Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates. "Unit fighter personnel advanced the UAE's F-16 fighter pilot training program; 3 pilots flew 243 instructor sorties/323 hrs that created 4 new instructors & 29 combat wingmen who immediately deployed for combat operations in Yemen."

Comment: Remember this bit of reporting from AP, too:

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Bad Guys

Press dishonesty: MSM ignores Democrats partying in Puerto Rico amidst gov shutdown

Charlie Kirk
Fox News
Fri, 18 Jan 2019 12:14 UTC
democrats in puerto rico
© Fox News
This past weekend, Democrats, lobbyists and corporate executives all traveled to Puerto Rico to attend the local opening of the hit Broadway show "Hamilton." The event was organized by BoldPAC, the fundraising arm for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. The mainstream media covered it as important business meant to renew focus on issues facing the island and ensure that it would no longer be taken for granted by the Trump administration.

In reality, the Democrats and their groupies stayed at an expensive resort, hung out with celebrities, and enjoyed world-class meals. But those details weren't included in the press reports, of course.

Comment: If the Democrats were serious about solving problems and ending the government shutdown, as they claim to be, then they wouldn't be taking lavish vacations in Puerto Rico while Trump is working in Washington.

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Gold Bar

Russia's gold continues to set records, increasing trade in Euro and Yuan


Sputnik
Sat, 19 Jan 2019 17:07 UTC
gold bar
© Sputnik / Pavel Lisitsyn
This week, the Russian Central Bank reported that it had added to its gold reserves again in 2018, with the sovereign stockpile jumping by nearly 275 tonnes to 2,112 tonnes total.

The stockpile, valued at close to $87 billion at today's exchange rate and comprising 18.6 percent of Russia's total reserves of $468.5 billion, has allowed Russia to enter the top five countries in terms of gold reserves, surpassing China.

Russian gold reserves have been climbing steadily for over a decade, growing from just over 500 tonnes in 2009 to the present figure, a record for modern Russia, and moving ever-closer to the 20th century Soviet record of 2,800 tonnes on the eve of the Second World War.

Russia's status as a major gold-producing country has enabled it to top up reserves largely from gold mined in the country. Although the Russian Ministry of Finance has not yet published the complete 2018 figures on gold production for 2018, January-October 2018 figures reflect a gold output of 264.99 tonnes in the first three quarters of the year, up from 261.17 tonnes produced during the same period in 2017.

Comment: Everything but the dollar, and the US only has itself to blame:

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Brain

MSM hero Nastya Rybka: Whistleblower with dirt on Trump or orgy organizer with no credibility?

Igor Ogorodnev
RT
Fri, 18 Jan 2019 20:08 UTC
Nastya Rybka
© INSTAGRAM/nastya_rybka.ru
Nastya Rybka
After the arrest of escort Nastya Rybka in Russia, Western media has revived her claims of owning tapes proving collusion between Donald Trump and the Kremlin. One problem: there's still no reason to believe they ever existed.

Allegations by the part-time "sex coach" made the headlines of most leading English-language outlets, while the articles focused on the dramatic video in which she struggles against law enforcement awkwardly bundling her into a wheelchair at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport.

Audiences predominantly had to read down to the middle of the text to discover that she was charged by the Russian authorities with inducement into prostitution, a crime remarkably similar to the conspiracy and soliciting prostitution sentences to which she pleaded in Thailand earlier this week, having spent a year behind bars for organizing paid-to-play orgies in the coastal resort of Pattaya.

Comment: The lying mainstream media continues to grasp at any straws that purport to support its fantastical Russian conspiracy theories, which only get more ludicrous as time goes on.

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Lemon

The price for bending the knee to Washington: Trudeau has bitten off more China dragon than he can chew

Robert Bridge
RT
Fri, 18 Jan 2019 16:45 UTC
Justin Trudeau

Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
Bending to the will of Washington, Canadian PM Trudeau is on a collision course with Beijing following the arrest of a senior Huawei executive in December. What sort of madness motivated Trudeau to make such a decision?

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, 47, is famous for his good looks and quick smile, but unfortunately being photogenic does not guarantee political instincts, which he seems to be sorely lacking.

Last February, for example, during a visit to India, Trudeau's cabinet sent a formal dinner invitation to Jaspal Atwal, an attempted murderer from a Sikh organization that India ranks as a terrorist group. Although the invite was eventually rescinded, it certainly made a lasting impression on his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi.

On another cringe-worthy occasion, the self-proclaimed "proud feminist" interrupted a young woman at a political event for using the term "mankind," explaining pedantically that the correct nomenclature was "peoplekind." This may have been the first town hall meeting in history where airsickness bags were needed.

It's this sort of insufferable desire-to-please-everyone phoniness that helps explain why Canada's most powerful Liberal is suffering precipitous drops on the popularity front. And now Justin Trudeau has managed to outdo even Justin Trudeau.

Comment: See also:

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Network

US and N. Korea begin talks aimed at arranging second Kim-Trump summit- UPDATE - Summit planned for February

Matthew Lee and Deb Riechmann
Associated Press
Fri, 18 Jan 2019 17:02 UTC
pompeo
© AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Kim Yong Chol, a North Korean senior ruling party official and former intelligence chief, meet in Washington, Friday, Jan. 18, 2019
The U.S. and North Korea began highly anticipated talks Friday aimed at resuming stalled efforts to end the North's nuclear weapons program by arranging a second summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and North Korea's former spy chief, Kim Yong Chol, did not respond to reporters' questions before their meeting at a Washington hotel.

Pompeo, Kim and Steve Biegun, the special U.S. envoy for North Korea negotiations, stood silently as photographers took photos. Pompeo and Kim had plans to go to the White House later for a possible meeting with Trump.

Trump has spoken several times of having a second summit early this year and has exchanged multiple letters with Kim Jong Un despite little tangible progress on a vague denuclearization agreement reached at their historic first meeting in Singapore last June.

Comment:

UPDATE Jan 19: The White House has just announced after talks in Washington with North Korea's Vice Chairman Kim Yong Chol that the summit will take place at the end of February. Trump met with the envoy for an hour and a half, to discuss denuclearization and a second summit. The location of the summit will be announced at a later date.

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