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Philippine Leaders Reject US Intel Report that Duterte is a 'Threat to Democracy'


Sputnik
Thu, 22 Feb 2018 10:30 UTC
President Donald Trump and Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte
© AP Photo/ Andrew Harnik
President Donald Trump toasts Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, right, at an ASEAN Summit dinner at the SMX Convention Center, Sunday, Nov. 12, 2017, in Manila, Philippines
The US intelligence community labeled Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte a "threat to democracy" in their Worldwide Threat Assessment (WTA) report, provoking a rebuke from Philippine leaders in defense of their oft-controversial president.

The WTA was published on February 13 and spent most of its time running down the "threat" posed by the US' top rivals: Russia, China, Iran and North Korea. The Philippines is only mentioned twice in the 28-page report: once when it's named alongside Turkey and Venezuela (two countries that the US has a rocky-at-best relationship with) as nations "whose governments used social media to spread government views, to drive agendas and to counter criticism of the government online."

The other mention discusses the trend of "autocratic tendencies" deepening in Southeast Asia. "In the Philippines, President Duterte will continue to wage his signature campaign against drugs, corruption and crime," the report reads. "Duterte has suggested he could suspend the Constitution, declare a 'revolutionary government' and impose nationwide martial law. His declaration of martial law in Mindanao, responding to the Daesh-inspired siege of Marawi City, has been extended through the end of 2018," the report notes.
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Gear

'Am I not your strategic partner?' Erdogan says Turkey must develop 'unmanned tanks' as NATO refuses to share military tech


RT
Thu, 22 Feb 2018 08:50 UTC
A Turkish tank near the Turkish-Syrian border
© Osman Orsal / Reuters
A Turkish tank near the Turkish-Syrian border in Kilis province, Turkey January 31, 2018
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has instructed the Turkish defense industry to develop a home-produced unmanned tank, and has criticized NATO states' reluctance to share modern military technology with their ally Ankara.

Ankara hopes to design, produce and deploy an unmanned tank to circumvent a technology gap that NATO countries are reluctant to fill, President Erdogan stated on Wednesday, unveiling the country's development goals for 2019 to 2023.

Praising the current level of technical achievement in the defense industry, Erdogan highlighted how the development of domestic aerial drone production, which was prompted by NATO members' repeated refusal to share the technology with Ankara. The Alpagu, the Kargu and the Togan military drones are just the latest achievements by Turkish arms makers.
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Bad Guys

Russian MoD spokesman: Syria's East Ghouta militants derail peace talks with armed provocations


RT
Thu, 22 Feb 2018 08:10 UTC
A member of the controversial White Helmets group holds an injured woman
© Bassam Khabieh / Reuters
A member of the controversial White Helmets group holds an injured woman in the rebel-held town of Hamouriyeh, eastern Ghouta. February 21, 2018
Attempts to broker a ceasefire in the Damascus suburb of East Ghouta have failed because illegal armed militants controlling the area have refused to give up their weapons, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

"The appeals by the Russian reconciliation center to illegal armed groups to stop resistance, surrender arms and regularize their status did not bring positive results," the ministry's spokesman Major-General Yuri Yevtushenko said in a statement on Wednesday, adding that the humanitarian situation in East Ghouta is "getting critical."

Russia is working within the UN Security Council to draft a resolution to address pressing humanitarian issues in the embattled suburb, deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said earlier. Ambassador Vasily Nebenzia said that the Security Council meeting scheduled for Thursday was "necessary" to allow all sides to "present their vision, their understanding of the situation, and come up with ways of getting out of this situation."
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Attention

Washington's new ultimatum on Iran deal, demands allies to commit

Bill Van Auken
World Socialist Web Site
Tue, 20 Feb 2018 00:00 UTC
Trump/Iranflag
© Real Iran
The US State Department has issued a fresh ultimatum on the Iran nuclear deal to Washington's ostensible major allies in Europe, demanding that Germany, Britain and France commit themselves to altering the agreement along the lines demanded by President Donald Trump or face its unilateral abrogation by the US.

A secret State Department cable obtained by Reuters presents what are essentially the same demands made by Trump last January. At that time, he announced that he was prepared to relaunch all-out US economic warfare against Iran unless the European powers joined Washington in imposing a rewritten nuclear accord on Tehran, including provisions that the Iranian government cannot and will not accept.

The occasion for Trump's threat was his reluctant announcement on January 12 that he had decided to waive the reimposition of US sanctions that were lifted as part of the nuclear agreement, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). He vowed that this would be the last time he issued such a waiver, unless his conditions were met. The next deadline for waiving the sanctions is May 12.

Comment: Ultimatums are never a sign of strength and they offer an even chance of rejection with undesirable consequences. This may be the most crucial pivot point of the war.

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Attention

Russia calls on West to discipline Jabhat al-Nusra


TASS
Mon, 19 Feb 2018 16:02 UTC
Jabhat Al-Nusra
© The Counter Jihad Report
Jabhat Al-Nusra
Moscow calls on Western powers having influence on Jabhat al-Nusra (a terrorist organization outlawed in Russia) to discipline it, otherwise it would be exterminated, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday.

"The experience gained in Aleppo, when an agreement was reached with militants on their organized exodus, can be used in Eastern Ghouta. It took enormous effort to reach agreements on medical evacuation, first of all, of children and people needing emergency medical assistance. But subsequent efforts to organize large-scale evacuation of civilians from that area encountered Jabhat al-Nusra's refusal as it seeks to keep these people as a human shield," he said.

According to the Russian top diplomat, Jabhat al-Nusra is not merely present there but keeps on attacking civil facilities and Damascus' dwelling quarters. "The Russian embassy was a target for such attacks several time. Not long ago, the building of Russia's trade mission was severely damaged in such an attack," Lavrov recalled.

Comment: With no restrictions, proxy units have a sneaky way to get around standard war protocol. By doing nothing, the US/West gives silent approval to this terrorist group's activities (a position in itself), banking on certain outcomes. In addition, all the tragedies of civilians in East Ghouta are then able to be blamed on the Assad regime and reported as such by biased organizations such as SORH.
See also:

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Snakes in Suits

US Ambassador Huntsman and Russian General Staff chief on defense cooperation


TASS
Mon, 19 Feb 2018 19:07 UTC
Ambassador Jon Huntsman
© Mikhail Japaridze/TASS
Ambassador Jon Huntsman
Chief of the Russian General Staff Gen. Valery Gerasimov and US Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman discussed on Monday prospects for bilateral relations in the military sector, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Monday.

It said Gerasimov and Huntsman "exchanged views on the situation in the security sphere, as well as views on the current state and prospects for bilateral relations in the military sphere," the ministry said.

Jon Huntsman spoke in favor of more active contacts between Washington and Moscow, the US Embassy in Moscow said on Monday.

"There is obviously a low level of trust between our two countries. It is precisely at moments like these, when more communications are needed, not less," it quoted the US diplomat as saying. The embassy also said "They discussed Ukraine, Syria, Strategic Stability, Afghanistan, and the DPRK".

Comment: A breath of fresh air and logic? Where's this guy been hiding!

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USA

US Government's own data reveals US interfered in 81 foreign elections

Claire Bernish
MintPress News
Wed, 22 Mar 2017 00:00 UTC
CIA logo
© CIA
Ask an average American, who makes a habit of following government-mouthpiece corporate media, about interference in national elections and you'll likely elicit a nebulous response concerning Russian hackers and a plan to install Donald Trump in the White House - but you probably won't hear a single syllable pertaining to United States government's actual attempts to do the same.

On Monday [2017], FBI Director James Comey confirmed for the first time publicly that the bureau is officially investigating hotly contentious allegations of Russian meddling in the U.S. election - but, even if proven true, such geopolitical escapades better characterize the routine behavior of accuser than of accused.

"The F.B.I., as part of our counterintelligence effort, is investigating the Russian government's efforts to interfere in the 2016 president election," the director announced, adding the bureau would conduct a probe to discern whether Trump's associates had contact with Russian officials.

Despite that the U.S. has hypocritically exerted influence over foreign elections in all corners of the globe - in fact, it has arrogantly done so a whopping 81 times between 1946 and 2000, alone - with just one-third of those operations undertaken overtly.

Comment: Proof of US involvement and manipulation in elections all over the world is on record for the everyone to see... even Americans, should they value facts over accusations and innuendo.

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Airplane

Maduro tweets offer to dialogue with Trump


RT
Tue, 20 Feb 2018 20:09 UTC
Maduro
© Christian Science Monitor
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has proposed holding talks with his US counterpart Donald Trump. Maduro extended the olive branch to Trump on Twitter, the US president's favorite social media site.

Trump "campaigned promising non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries," Maduro tweeted on Monday. "The time has come to fulfill that and change his agenda of aggression to one of dialogue."

"Dialogue in Caracas or Washington DC?" Maduro asked, challenging Trump to name a "time and place and I'll be there." By Tuesday, there was no response to the invitation from either the White House or the US State Department.

Comment: US silence speaks louder than tweets.

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Attention

Canadian government's backing for Sikh separatist movement casts shadow over Trudeau's visit to India

Zeenat Saberin
Al Jazeera News
Tue, 20 Feb 2018 00:00 UTC
Trudeau New Delhi
© Adnan Abidi/Reuters
A junior Indian minister greeted the Canadian prime minister when he landed in New Delhi
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's India trip that began on Saturday has been making the headlines in India for the wrong reasons.

In the past four days of his first India trip as prime minister, Trudeau has travelled to the iconic Taj Mahal, nearly 200km from the capital, New Delhi and Gujarat, home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Mumbai, but no senior government minister has met him so far.

A junior Indian minister greeted the Canadian prime minister when he landed in New Delhi accompanied by his wife and three children.

Modi has broken protocols in the past to receive guests personally, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in January.

But the Indian prime minister, who famously hugs his guests, has not even tweeted welcoming Trudeau in a move being seen as a "snub" to the Canadian leader.
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Snakes in Suits

'70th anniversary of Nakba': Trump creates, then exacerbates, crisis for Palestinian refugees

Prof. Marjorie Cohn
Global Research
Wed, 21 Feb 2018 20:14 UTC
Free Palestine
One of the most consequential actions Donald Trump took during the first year of his presidency was to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in December 2017. When the Palestinians predictably responded by pulling out of the US-led "peace process," Trump retaliated by cutting US financial support to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) by more than 50 percent.

"A Death Sentence" for Gazan Refugees

The US cutback in aid to UNRWA critically threatens the access of Palestinian refugees to food, health care and education.

In Gaza, 1.3 million Palestinian refugees, who comprise 70 percent of Gaza's population, depend on UNRWA for food assistance. The refugee crisis was aggravated by Israel's 2014 massacre in Gaza.
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