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Turkish envoy to Russia assures Moscow that they are still 'special partners'


Sputnik
Fri, 05 Aug 2016 16:34 UTC
Turkey ambassador Yardim erdogan Putin
© Sputnik/ Michael Klimentyev
November 19, 2014. From left: Turkish Ambassador Umit Yardim, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov during the ceremony of presenting credentials from new foreign ambassadors in the Grand Kremlin Palace's Alexander Hall
Turkish Ambassador to Russia Umit Yardim said that the meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in St. Petersburg "will give additional impetus not only on the Turkish Stream project, but all areas of our cooperation."

It is unacceptable to ignore or forget the fact that Moscow and Ankara have been and remain special partners, Turkish Ambassador to Russia Umit Yardim said Friday.

"Even in the face of political rollback, Turkey remains a special country for Russia, just as Russia is for Turkey," Yardim told RIA Novosti in an interview, adding that "ignoring this fact, forgetting about it is unacceptable."

Upcoming discussions between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan's on the Turkish Stream gas pipeline project may give impetus to implementing this and other energy projects, according to Umit Yardim.

"At the moment, the parties have not started the formal part, the signing of documents. I do not know in what context the Turkish Stream will be discussed on August 9, but of course energy issues and these projects will be discussed," Yardim told RIA Novosti in an interview.

The diplomat voiced confidence that the meeting between the two leaders in St. Petersburg "will give additional impetus not only on the Turkish Stream project, but all areas of our cooperation."
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Info

Erdogan explains why he wrote an apology letter to Putin


Sputnik
Fri, 05 Aug 2016 16:41 UTC
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
© AP Photo/ Kayhan Ozer/Presidential Press Service
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan explained why he wrote an apologetic letter to Vladimir Putin and made the first move to help fix the relations between Ankara and Moscow.

The Turkish leader explained that the relations between the two countries are extremely important for the entire region, and so the crisis sparked by the downing of a Russian warplane in Syrian airspace had to be resolved no matter what.

"An undesirable incident involving an aircraft occurred between Russia and Turkey. The negative consequences of this incident lasted for eight months. We then wrote a letter and offered to put an end to this process, because relations between Turkey and Russia are very important for the region. The problem had to be solved. We also expressed our condolences for what happened and received a positive answer," Erdogan told Turkish national public broadcaster TRT.
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Bomb

Kosovo parliament hit with grenade shortly after EU-supported border deal reached


Radio Free Europe
Fri, 05 Aug 2016 16:05 UTC
Kosovo parliament bomb

Police said an explosive device, possibly a rocket-propelled grenade, hit the Kosovo parliament building late on August 4.
Police say Kosovo's parliament was hit with an explosive device late on August 4, causing damage to the building but no injuries. Kosovo media reported that two motorcyclists fired a rocket-propelled grenade as they drove near the parliament building. The downtown area was sealed off as police investigated.

The blast comes amid tensions over a border demarcation deal that the government has reached with Montenegro. Earlier on August 4, the government ratified the deal and sent it to parliament. Lawmakers are expected to vote on it next week. The deal sets the boundary between the two countries and is backed by the United States and European Union.

Adopting a the deal is a precondition for Kosovo to get a visa-free travel regime to the EU's Schengen zone as other countries in the region received in 2010, including Serbia, Albania, Montenegro, Macedonia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Opposition parties and some members of the governing coalition are vehemently against the deal, however, saying it hands over 8,000 hectares of Kosovo land to Montenegro. Since last year the opposition has used tear-gas canisters inside parliament and clashed with police outside in an attempt to scuttle the deal.
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Eye 2

British child sex abuse inquiry: Home Secretary vows to press on in wake of Justice Goddard's resignation

Caroline Mortimer
The Independent
Fri, 05 Aug 2016 16:16 UTC
child abuse inquiry Lowell Goddard-
© Associated Press

Justice Lowell Goddard, who is a high court judge in New Zealand, has resigned from the inquiry
Home secretary says the 'success of this inquiry remains an absolute priority'

The inquiry into child sexual abuse will continue "without delay" the Home Secretary Amber Rudd has said, following the resignation of its chair Dame Lowell Goddard.

Justice Goddard became the third chair of the inquiry to resign after controversy over holidays and comments she made about not understanding English law.

The New Zealand high court judge was appointed as chair of the inquiry by then-Home Secretary Theresa May after the two previous chairs were forced to stand down over their links to establishment figures.

Comment: Did Justice Goddard bail because she realized the inquiry would be going nowhere?

Institutional child sex abuse inquiry loses third head and it hasn't even started yet

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Magnify

No, Aleppo is not the new Srebrenica: The West won't go to war over Syria

Robert Fisk
The Independent
Thu, 04 Aug 2016 15:44 UTC
Syrians queue up to buy bread
© AFP/Getty
Syrians queue up to buy bread in a rebel held area of Aleppo on 12 July 016.
As armed rebels - "terrorists" in the eyes of the regime - tighten their grip on the country, at one stage holding 60 per cent of the land, government troops hit back, seizing control of the main roads and laying siege to major towns.

The ruthless dictator, supported by Russia, accuses foreign powers of assisting his rebel enemies. There are massacres by both sides. NGOs fear for the tens of thousands of civilians trapped amid the fighting, while Western powers threaten to strike at the dictator unless he abides by a humanitarian ceasefire.

Sound familiar? Of course. I'm describing Kosovo in 1998, the year before NATO launched its war against Slobodan Milosevic's regime in Serbia.

The Kosovo Liberation Army - assisted and advised, as we now know, by the CIA - was threatening to seize all of Kosovo, the Serbian province in which Milosevic's regime had long committed human rights abuses and ethnic murder against its Muslim majority. Milosovic accused Albania of sending weapons into Kosovo with the help of Western powers. All true.
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Eye 2

US-backed 'moderates' implicated in Syria chemical attack - State Dept. spokesman Toner ducks questions


RT
Fri, 05 Aug 2016 15:10 UTC
chemical weapons aleppo
© JM Lopez/Agence France-Presse
Washington dodged questions about a chemical attack in Syria, which the Russian military has blamed on US-backed militants, refusing to clarify whether the "incident" if confirmed would disqualify the group from being considered "moderate."

Shells suspected to have contained chlorine gas were fired into the Salahuddin residential district in eastern Aleppo on Tuesday night, the Russian Defense Ministry said Wednesday, identifying the perpetrators as "militants from the Harakat Nour al-Din al-Zenki group, considered by Washington as 'moderate opposition'."

Al-Zenki has been identified as one of the groups that received TOW anti-tank missiles from the US.
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Snakes in Suits

US to give Argentina declassified files on American role in 'horror' of military dictatorship

Nadia Prupis
Common Dreams
Fri, 05 Aug 2016 15:18 UTC
Images of missing people at an illegal detention center in Argentina where prisoners were tortured
© Pablo Flores/flickr/cc
Images of missing people at an illegal detention center in Argentina where prisoners were tortured.
In Buenos Aires on Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he would hand over declassified documents relating to America's role in the 1976-83 military coup and dictatorship in Argentina—often referred to as the "Dirty War"—during which tens of thousands of leftist activists and dissidents were murdered and imprisoned.

"I want to note that the relationship between the United States and Argentina is an exciting, forward-looking one. But we're also conscious of the lessons from the past," Kerry said during a press conference.

The move comes amid warming relations between the U.S. and Argentina, which elected neoliberal businessman Mauricio Macri as president in November, signaling a rightward shift for the country. President Barack Obama announced in March that the U.S. would release the files.
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Network

Putin encourages ties with Iran and Eurasian Economic Union


RT
Fri, 05 Aug 2016 14:40 UTC
Vladimir Putin
© Michael Klimentyev / Sputnik
Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has praised the successful cooperation between Moscow and Tehran, and has expressed hope that a free trade zone can soon be established between Iran and the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union.

"Iran is Russia's longtime partner. We believe that bilateral relations will benefit from the reduction of tensions around Iran following the comprehensive agreement on the Iranian nuclear program," Putin said in a major interview with Azerbaijani state news agency Azertac released on Friday. He added that Iranian leaders shared his approach.

In some branches of the economy Russian-Iranian cooperation has already become strategic, Putin noted. This concerned first of all the nuclear energy sphere, with Russia completing and servicing the Bushehr power plant in Iran and reaching agreements on building eight more nuclear power units. Overall the two states have managed to increase bilateral trade by 70 percent and bring it to $855 million in the first five months of 2016.
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Snakes in Suits

Transparency? Ha! US State Dept Toner bursts into laughter at press briefing


RT
Fri, 05 Aug 2016 15:02 UTC
Mark Toner, the deputy spokesman for the US State Department, literally burst out laughing at the idea of transparency and democracy during an official press briefing on Thursday.

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Pistol

Thriving on war: UK weapon traffickers eye global sales boost thanks to plunging post-Brexit pound value


RT
Fri, 05 Aug 2016 14:45 UTC
sigm400
© Stefan Wermuth / Reuters
A woman aims a SIGM400 rifle during the Defence Security Equipment International (DSEI) arms fair at ExCel in London. File photo.
British arms firms hope a plunge in the value of the pound will make exports less expensive and attract business from Turkey and India, which are seeking to expand their own arms-making capabilities.

UK arms giants Rolls Royce and BAE Systems, as well as parts suppliers Senior Plc and Meggitt Plc, are hoping to cash in on cheap designs and components.

Meggitt CEO Stephen Young told Bloomberg the firm could benefit if the weak pound lifts foreign demand for British parts - particularly in places like India, which are looking to expand their own arms manufacturing.

"We do and always have sold to original-equipment manufacturers around the world. If those channels are opened up further then obviously we'd be interested in selling more, absolutely," he said.

Comment: Like cockroaches, arms dealers are always the last man standing.

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