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Turkey opens its largest overseas military base in Somalia


RT
Sat, 30 Sep 2017 13:31 UTC
Turkish military officers parade during the opening ceremony of a Turkish military base in Mogadishu
© Feisal Omar / ReutersTurkish military officers parade during the opening ceremony of a Turkish military base in Mogadishu, Somalia September 30, 2017.
Turkey has launched a major military base in Somalia. The $50 million facility is designed to provide support and training to troops of the war-torn country which is struggling to rebuild its national security forces.

Turkey opened the new military training facility south of Somalia's capital city Mogadishu Saturday. Senior officials, including Turkey's Chief of General Staff Hulusi Akar and Somalia's Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire attended the opening ceremony, which is expected to house and train at least 1,000 soldiers at a time.

The facility is Turkey's biggest overseas military base, the Somali PM said. Khaire added that the training facility will help Somalia to "reconstruct" a truly national force "not based on clan... not from a particular place, but well-trained forces that represent the Somali people."
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Quenelle

Former Clinton adviser Fallon claims Obama admin was squeaky clean - instantly gets schooled by Twitter


The Blaze
Sat, 30 Sep 2017 13:16 UTC
Brian Fallon Hillary Clinton
© Brendan Smialowski/Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesBrian Fallon, Hillary Clinton's former spokesman, claimed on social media the Obama administration was "honorable" and without scandal. Americans were quick to provide him with a history lesson.
Brian Fallon, the former spokesman for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, was hit with a fact check on Friday after he claimed the Obama administration was scandal-free.

What did he claim?

Fallon said: "Tom Price and the rest of the ever- swampy Trump WH is a permanent reminder of how honorable and scandal-free an administration Obama ran."


Fallon's comments came as scrutiny rained down on now-former Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price, who used taxpayer funds to fly on private jets instead of commercial airliners. Price resigned his post Friday afternoon.
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Dollar

'President for the rich' Macron faces blowback for abolishing €4 billion 'yacht and race horse' tax


RT
Sat, 30 Sep 2017 13:18 UTC
Emmanuel Macron
© Robert Pratta / Reuters
President Emmanuel Macron of France says plans to abandon a Mitterand-era asset tax will encourage wealthy people to stay in the country. Opponents of the politician, whose popularity is sliding among left-leaning voters, claim the proposal is a handout to the rich.

In its current form, the solidarity tax on wealth (ISF), introduced by the Socialists in 1982, forces all French households with assets of over €1.3 million to pay an additional percentage, whatever their previous income tax contributions. Around 350,000 households currently pay the ISF, which tops out at 1.50 percent, and brings in over €4 billion of revenue.

Macron's government has argued that the tax encourages the wealthy to invest in assets - houses, cars and yachts - outside of France, or to pour their money into financial instruments exempt from the levy. It says 10,000 people worth €35 billion have left the country altogether as a direct result of the ISF.

"When a taxpayer leaves, he pays no more tax at all, not the ISF, not income tax. Collectively, all the French lose," conservative prime minister Edouard Philippe, recruited for Macron's cross-party government in May, said earlier this month.

"We need a tax code that favors investment in the economy," Macron argued during a conference in the Estonian capital Tallinn Friday, citing France's sluggish economic growth rates in the past decades.
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Mr. Potato

Ridiculous Saakashvili goes back to Odessa, says he will 'clean house' in Kiev

Novorosinform - translated by Tom Winter
Fort Russ
Sat, 30 Sep 2017 00:00 UTC
Saakashvili
Saakashvili: Dangerous goofball
In Odessa, an open meeting of Saakashvili's "New Forces Movement" has concluded. In his speech, the politician proposed to go to Kiev on October 17 to remove the bandit leadership.

"Cut off the head of the octopus," said the ex-head of the Odessa Regional State Administration.

The meeting took place at the monument to Duke de Richelieu [first mayor of Odessa -- tr]. Saakashvili promised that he would build a new Odessa. He also once again called the city council, headed by Mayor Gennady Trukhanov, goons* and bandits.

Comment: Saakashvili probably comes second only to former President George W. Bush for being the most goofy, ridiculous and idiotic of political psychopaths to grace the world stage. His antics and will to power are now epic. See a sampling of his numerous fiascos!

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Георгиевская ленточка

Russia: Syria's honest broker


Sputnik
Sat, 30 Sep 2017 15:12 UTC
russian pilots syria
© Sputnik/ Dmitriy Vinogradov/ File photoRussian pilots of the Su-34 at the Hmeimim base in Syria.
While airstrikes by the US-led coalition in Syria have only resulted in terrorists seizing ever new chunks of Syrian territory, the Russian military operation, launched in 2016 , has led to a huge military shift turning the tables against the jihadists, an independent British journalist told Sputnik.

"Under the US [Daesh] flourished, and the Russian intervention pushed the terrorists back. We've seen huge military advances by the Syrian government forces. The world has seen that the US-led coalition is not an honest broker in international affairs, while Russia has assumed an honest stance in dealing with the situation," Vanessa Beeley said.

Regarding Russia's biggest military victories in the Syrian campaign, she said that even though the liberation of cities and villages from terrorist occupation is a huge victory per se, the biggest game changer is that it exposed Western propaganda and bias of the mainstream media against the Syrian government and its allies.

"And, of course, the liberation of Deir ez-Zor broke the terrorists' back, so I think that these two great victories have had a huge impact on the course of the Syrian war," she noted.

Comment:

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Snakes in Suits

Tillerson, Mnuchin to oversee sanctions; Coats to oversee Iran, N Korea weapons programs


RT
Sat, 30 Sep 2017 17:57 UTC
TillTrump
© Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
President Donald Trump has delegated some of his functions and authorities on US sanctions against Russia and North Korea to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, according to a White House memo.

The new privileges falling on the shoulders of the Secretary of State entail cancelling cyber sanctions imposed on Russian individuals and entities, as well as expelling individuals or revoking visas from those undermining cybersecurity. The memorandum also spans sections of the act regarding Russian financial institutions, corruption, sanction evaders and human rights abusers.

Tillerson is also now empowered to lift the application of penalties introduced against persons whom the US say contribute materially to the Syrian government by providing financial or technological support. However, the decision on punishing those will lay with both the state and treasury secretaries.

The two senior officials will also be responsible for the annual reports to Congress on media organizations funded by the Kremlin, as well reporting about funds provided by the Russian government or any Russian person "with the intention of influencing the outcome of any election or campaign in any country in Europe or Eurasia."

In consultation with Mnuchin, Tillerson has also been authorized to oversee sanctions relating to special Russian crude oil projects and individuals engaged in transactions with Russian intelligence or defense. Among other decisions are sanctions on foreigners employing North Korean labor.

Comment: Maybe this is Trump's way of distancing himself from sanctions. It is a weak positioning tool, especially when its recipients develop stronger ancillary alliances and multilateral support.

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Rocket

North Korean missiles on the move, depart development center in Pyongyang


RT
Sat, 30 Sep 2017 17:12 UTC
NKMissile
© NBC NewsReturn to Sender
North Korea has been detected transferring several missiles out of a research facility in Pyongyang amid speculation of a possible test launch, South Korean media reported citing an unnamed intelligence source.

South Korea's national broadcaster KBS reported on Friday that South Korean and US intelligence officials spotted missiles being moved away from the Missile Research and Development Facility in Pyongyang, Reuters reports.

The center in the northern Pyongyang neighborhood of Sanum-dong is reportedly focused on the production of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).

The report did not shed light on the time and destination of the alleged transfer, saying that the missiles could be either intermediate range Hwasong-12 or intercontinental ballistic Hwasong-14. A source in South Korea's Defense Ministry could not confirm the details of the report to Reuters, or whether there have been any unusual activities going on in the area.

Comment: Escalate tension; sell weaponry.

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Bad Guys

US-backed forces steal Syrian oilfields while Syrian Army liberates country from ISIS


Fort Russ
Sat, 30 Sep 2017 21:18 UTC
Kurds Syria us flag
© Rodi Said / Reuters/ File photoKurdish fighters from the People's Protection Units (YPG) chat with members of U.S. forces in the Syrian town of Darbasiya next to the Turkish border
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have continued their drive to capture the oil-rich countryside of Deir Ezzor in Syria's east.

The US-backed SDF have captured the Jafra Central processing facilities and the Jafra oil field from ISIS.

With the Syrian Army initially crossing the Euphrates River to liberate the oilfields, the US-backed forces have continued their advancement to capture the region before government forces.

Comment: Further reading: The curtain is lifted on Washington's designs in Syrian

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Dollar

Iraq's federal government announces it will pay Kurdish citizens their salaries


Fort Russ
Sat, 30 Sep 2017 21:18 UTC
oil refinery
The federal Iraqi government has announced that it will start paying Kurdish citizens their salaries.

This comes as the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) that held an unconstitutional independence referendum on Monday that was denounced by Baghdad, neighboring states and all major world powers.

The KRG has failed to pay many of its citizens in over two years, prompting for the federal government to intervene.
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Propaganda

YouTube caught suppressing US war crimes while protecting ISIS

Matt Agorist
The Free Thought Project
Sat, 30 Sep 2017 21:17 UTC
Youtube censor propaganda ISIS fake news
In the past few months, YouTube has made an unprecedented move to censor political outlets which they claim promote hate speech or extremist content. However, as Julian Assange just pointed out last month, peaceful anti-war politicians like Ron Paul are also being snubbed out in the name of controlling the narrative. But now, there is evidence of something even more insidious happening.

Footage of coalition strikes against the Islamic State - arguably the world's historical view of the war - has been getting not only demonetized, like we reported before, but deleted entirely.

To be clear, this is not propaganda. It is official coalition videos, released by the US Central Command and International Coalition for Operation Inherent Resolve, that are being deleted or having age restrictions applied to them.
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