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Secretive military base outside Paris hit by coronavirus, Europe banning mass gatherings


RT
Sat, 29 Feb 2020 01:52 UTC
Creil
© Reuters / Christian Hartmann
FILE PHOTO. View of the main entrance of Creil's hospital, where people tested positive for coronavirus have been treated.
Several people stationed at the 110 Creil air base outside Paris have fallen ill with coronavirus, the French military confirmed, with the base effectively being placed on lockdown.

Defense Minister Florence Parly confirmed on Friday that a number of coronavirus cases have been registered at the military facility, located to the north of the French capital. While Parly did not provide the exact tally, earlier reports by local media suggested that at least four people, including a civilian employee, had contracted the virus.

An "epidemiological investigation" into the outbreak is now underway, Parly said, while all mass activities, as well as trips to and from the facility, have been suspended. Precautionary measures are also being undertaken at other military installations.

Comment: See also: Don't buy China's story: Clues that coronavirus may have leaked from a lab

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Bad Guys

Said the fly to the elephant: 'Get out of the way, let us deal with Assad regime', Erdogan says he told Putin regarding Idlib, Syria


RT
Sat, 29 Feb 2020 19:52 UTC
erdogan
© Presidential Press Office / Handout via REUTERS
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan
As tensions in Idlib province reach the boiling point, Turkey has asked Russia to let it fight the Syrian government face-to-face, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan revealed.

Erdogan asked Putin "to get out of the way" and let the Turkish troops deal with Syrian President Bashar Assad, the Turkish leader told his AK Party on Saturday.

Erdogan was explaining to lawmakers his government's handling of the escalation in the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib, where Turkish and Syrian troops have engaged in several clashes over the past weeks. The hostilities have all but ruined Turkey's 2018 agreement with Russia on de-escalating the violence in the area, which remains the last major stronghold of anti-government forces in Syria.

Describing his phone conversation with Putin, Erdogan said if Russia's interest in Syria was to keep a military presence there, Turkey, a NATO member, does not object to it.
I asked Mr Putin: What's your business there? If you establish a base, do so but get out of our way and leave us face to face with the regime.

Comment: What are the Turks up to? Is this naked imperialism, pure and simple? It sure looks like it. Meanwhile, their belligerence abroad is causing conflict closer to home - a brawl broke out among Turkish MPs several days after Erdogan's troops (apparently) took Turkey to the brink of open war with Syria/Iran/Russia:


See also:

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Rocket

LNA spokesman shares video of aftermath of alleged Turkish drone strike civilians in Tripoli


Sputnik
Fri, 28 Feb 2020 19:45 UTC
lna libya drone
© LNA/Facebook page (screenshot)
Ankara previously deployed forces to Libya in support of the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) against the Libyan National Army (LNA), led by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, in a civil war between the two sides.

Ahmed al-Mismari, a representative of the Libyan National Army (LNA) led by Marshal Khalifa Haftar, on Thursday posted a video on his Facebook page featuring the alleged aftermath of a Turkish drone attack on a civilian neighborhood south of Tripoli.

The video, said to have been recorded by members of the LNA, shows houses and civilian cars purported to have been destroyed in an air strike in the Al-Rawajeh area, south of the capital.


Al-Mismari said that "the Turkish enemy" conducted a drone attack on civilians after their "impotence" in facing the Libyan army.

"These are what Erdogan says he kills in response to the killing of his invading soldiers on various fronts of Tripoli and their various locations," al-Mismari wrote.

The spokesman said that the LNA is "awaiting a statement" from the head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya, Ghassan Salame, to "ascertain the extent of civilianness [sic] of the occupied Mitiga airport".

The video does not reveal, nor did the spokesman report, on a number of people who may have been killed or injured in the alleged attack.

Comment: Erdogan is not only meddling in Libya:

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Mr. Potato

Biden claims he'll 'appoint' first African-American woman to US Senate in fresh gaffe


RT
Fri, 28 Feb 2020 19:37 UTC
biden
© REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
Joe Biden at tenth Democratic 2020 presidential debate in Charleston, South Carolina
Joe Biden has aroused concerns after misspeaking yet again in public, this time in front of an audience in South Carolina, promising voters he would "appoint" the first African-American woman to the US Senate.

From accidentally pitching himself as a Senate candidate to having to admit a bizarre story about being arrested trying to see Nelson Mandela was false, the Democratic presidential hopeful has had his fair share of gaffes during his presidential campaign.

There's no sign that his blunders will cease, either, judging by Biden's confusion when addressing South Carolina voters ahead of the state's crucial primary. Visiting the city of Sumter on Friday, Biden promised the crowd that he's "looking forward to appointing the first African-American woman to the United States Senate."


The US president does not "appoint" anyone to the Senate, so Biden could have intended to refer to the US Supreme Court. More so because there already have been African-American female senators, from Carol Moselely Braun to Kamala Harris, a former rival of Biden's in the 2020 presidential primaries.

This is the second time Biden seems to have forgotten Harris exists. In November, at the fifth Democratic presidential debate, the former vice-president claimed that he had been endorsed by the only African-American woman elected to the Senate, referring to Braun. Harris was on stage at the time and quickly corrected him.

Comment: Someone get this man into a home. He needs round-the-clock care.

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Putin

Tech giants debunk US govt claims that Russians are pushing coronavirus disinfo

Max Eddy and Michael Kan
PCMag
Fri, 28 Feb 2020 18:17 UTC
mobile phones cellphones
On Thursday, Facebook and Twitter cast doubt on a US State Department claim that Russia has been secretly controlling thousands of fake accounts to spread disinformation about the coronavirus outbreak on social media.

"In general, our investigation hasn't substantiated this claim," Yoel Roth, Twitter's head of site integrity, said during a panel at the RSA security conference.

"We have asked (the State Department) for any evidence that they have to support this, and we haven't received anything yet," added Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook's head of cybersecurity policy.

The discussion comes almost a week after the State Department told news agency AFP that it identified thousands of fake, Russia-linked accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter that are out to sow fear by falsely claiming that the US created the coronavirus strain.

But the social networks say US officials have not shared their findings with Facebook and Twitter. "We'd love to get a briefing on this," Roth said.

So far, Twitter has seen some Russian accounts tweet out medical disinformation about the coronavirus strain. But all these accounts were clearly marked as having ties to Russia, and included Kremlin-backed news agencies. "You can identify these accounts because they have names like Russia Today," Roth said. "But are there clandestine efforts on Twitter or on Instagram or on Facebook that are engaged in some sort of 2016 (presidential election) covert activity? Our experience thus far is no, we haven't identified anything like that."


Comment: Funny how they downplay one hoax by comparing it to another hoax! That's how routine anti-Russian hysteria has become.


Comment: See also:

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Bullseye

Flynn attorney seeking total exoneration, not pardon

Sophie Mann
JustTheNews
Thu, 27 Feb 2020 17:29 UTC
General Mike Flynn
© Saul Loeb / Getty Images
General Mike Flynn
Sidney Powell says case could 'be over in a week' once 'altered 302' examined in DOJ review

Retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn's lawyer, Sidney Powell, told Just the News this week that she is seeking total exoneration of her client from the Department of Justice in a case that has dragged on for years.

"We don't want a pardon," she told the site's CEO John Solomon for his podcast John Solomon Reports. "We want an exoneration."

While emphasizing that her client wouldn't dismiss the idea of accepting a pardon, Powell made clear that she and Flynn have set their sights higher.

"We want this case dismissed in the interest of justice," she said.

Comment:

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Yoda

The only questions that should matter in Assange's extradition battle

Elizabeth Farrelly
Sydney Morning Herald
Sat, 29 Feb 2020 16:52 UTC
assange court
© Julia Quenzler
Gulag Britannia
Even in my bleakest moments I'm glad I'm not Julian Assange. Seven years trapped inside the embassy opposite Harrods, with fake news in the air and police in the bushes. (Yes, I was there. I saw them). That alone would send me mad.

Follow that with 10 months' solitary in what former British diplomat Craig Murray calls Britain's Lubyanka, the ultra-grim high-security Belmarsh Prison. There, Assange has been subject to such harassment, arbitrariness, strip searches and abuse that both the UN Special Rapporteur and a group of more than 60 British doctors were impelled to protest his "torture" and his fellow inmates petitioned for his release from solitary. And now a bizarre hearing-cum-trial-by-public-opinion ending in possible extradition, a potential 175-year penalty and likely death in a harsh foreign jail. Why? For telling the truth.

Comment:

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Clipboard

Beginning of the end of America's longest war? US signs peace deal with Taliban to remove all troops from Afghanistan

David Welna & Colin Dwyer
npr.org
Sat, 29 Feb 2020 07:20 UTC
afghanistan peace deal
© AP Photo/Hussein Sayed
U.S. peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, left, and Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban group's top political leader shake hands after signing a peace agreement between Taliban and U.S. officials in Doha, Qatar, Saturday, Feb. 29, 2020.
Updated at 10:22 a.m. ET

The U.S. and the Taliban have struck a deal that paves the way for eventual peace in Afghanistan. U.S. Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad and the head of the militant Islamist group, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, signed the potentially historic agreement Saturday in Doha, Qatar, where the two sides spent months hashing out its details.

Under the terms of the deal, the U.S. commits to withdrawing all of its military forces and supporting civilian personnel, as well as those of its allies, within 14 months. The drawdown process will begin with the U.S. reducing its troop levels to 8,600 in the first 135 days and pulling its forces from five bases.

The rest of its forces, according to the agreement, will leave "within the remaining nine and a half months."

The Afghan government also will release up to 5,000 Taliban prisoners as a gesture of goodwill, in exchange for 1,000 Afghan security forces held by the Taliban.

"We owe a debt of gratitude to America's sons and daughters who paid the ultimate sacrifice in Afghanistan, and to the many thousands who served over the past nearly 19 years," Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a statement celebrating the deal, which comes on the heels of a seven-day "Reduction in Violence" agreement in Afghanistan.

Comment: While it may seem all well on paper, it's hard to see the US giving up the lucrative drug trade in the region.

We believe Trump when he says he wants out, but will he be so committed post-reelection this November?

See also: Afghanistan's 'peace deal' riddle

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Satellite

Pentagon vows not to let Russia, China deny West's space superiority


RFERL
Fri, 28 Feb 2020 13:39 UTC
General John Raymond

U.S. General John Raymond
A senior Pentagon official has warned that China and Russia are stepping up efforts to develop sophisticated space capabilities in a bid to deny the United States and its allies of their current superiority.

James Anderson, performing the duties of deputy undersecretary of defense for policy, told a House of Representatives panel on February 27 that China and Russia are developing sophisticated on-orbit capabilities and an array of space weapons capable of targeting nearly every class of U.S. space assets, many of which were developed when there were few threats in space.

In his written testimony to the House Armed Services Committee's strategic forces subcommittee, Anderson said the United States is responding to the threat by "transforming its space enterprise, fielding resilient architectures, developing space war-fighting expertise, and working closely with allies in combined operations."

Space Force General John Raymond, chief of space operations, told lawmakers that the United States "can no longer assume that our space superiority is a given."

Comment: See also:

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Bullseye

Hillary Clinton is launching a podcast and Twitter has a few suggestions: 'The Shillary Show?'


RT
Fri, 28 Feb 2020 23:13 UTC
hillary clinton

'Quiet! Grandma's gonna talk now!"
News that failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is planning to launch her very own podcast has been met with a collective eye roll and plenty of sarcasm on social media.

Clinton is planning to launch the podcast in late spring, "just in time for her to have a powerful new megaphone during the 2020 election," Politico reported on Thursday.

The show will be co-produced by iHeartMedia, which distributes a bevy of right-wing radio shows as well as the left-wing Joe Rogan Experience, which has endorsed Clinton's 2016 archrival Bernie Sanders for president.
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