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Israeli defense minister says Tel Aviv won't change Syrian policy despite downing of Russian Il-20


RT
Sun, 23 Sep 2018 14:15 UTC
Missile strike in Syria
© AFP / SANA
Israel will not cease operations in Syria, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman announced just before the Russian military published a detailed chronology of the downing of its Il-20, for which Moscow says Tel Aviv is to blame.

In the run-up to the publication of the Russian Defense Ministry report, Lieberman told local Kan Bet radio that he is not eager to engage in a media debate with Moscow over the incident. However, he was quick to reiterate that Syrian government forces were responsible for the incident.

The top Israeli military official stated that "nothing" has or will change in Tel Aviv's approach to the Arab Republic, which it considers to be turning into Iran's "base" for anti-Israeli operations.

Comment: Here is the Russian report: Russian MOD's full video report on IL-20 downing off Syrian coast: Israel culpable

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Evil Rays

John Pilger: Propaganda always wins, if you allow it

John Pilger
Consortium News
Wed, 19 Sep 2018 00:00 UTC
lies propaganda
The death of Robert Parry earlier this year felt like a farewell to the age of the reporter. Parry was "a trailblazer for independent journalism", wrote Seymour Hersh, with whom he shared much in common.

Hersh revealed the My Lai massacre in Vietnam and the secret bombing of Cambodia, Parry exposed Iran-Contra, a drugs and gun-running conspiracy that led to the White House. In 2016, they separately produced compelling evidence that the Assad government in Syria had not used chemical weapons. They were not forgiven.

Driven from the "mainstream", Hersh must publish his work outside the United States. Parry set up his own independent news website Consortium News, where, in a final piece following a stroke, he referred to journalism's veneration of "approved opinions" while "unapproved evidence is brushed aside or disparaged regardless of its quality."

Although journalism was always a loose extension of establishment power, something has changed in recent years. Dissent tolerated when I joined a national newspaper in Britain in the 1960s has regressed to a metaphoric underground as liberal capitalism moves towards a form of corporate dictatorship. This is a seismic shift, with journalists policing the new "groupthink", as Parry called it, dispensing its myths and distractions, pursuing its enemies.
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Arrow Down

The Saudi Inquisition: Authorities move to outlaw Shia Islam

Catherine Shakdam
New Eastern Outlook
Sat, 22 Sep 2018 00:00 UTC
Saudi Shia muharram gathering on the street
Back in 2017 a report by Human Rights Watch warned against Saudi Arabia's propensity to play up sectarianism as a valid expression of its state policy. "Saudi clerics, including those holding official positions, have 'vigorously employed' modern tools, such as Twitter, to stoke intolerance among millions of followers" the New-York based watchdog wrote.

Weaved around Wahhabism/Salafism - a faith whose interpretation of the Islamic Scriptures has given rise to what we know today as Islamic Terrorism, Saudi Arabia has long been held the cradle of religious extremism.

Comment: See also:

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Gift

BRICS bank NDB to finance new projects in Russia & India


RT
Sun, 23 Sep 2018 00:00 UTC
Indian classical dancer
© Bazuki Muhammad / Reuters
The board of directors of BRICS' New Development Bank (NDB) has approved three infrastructure and sustainable development projects in India and Russia with loans aggregating $825 million.

NDB said in a statement that its board has approved "a non-sovereign loan of $300 million to Sibur Holding for environmentally sustainable infrastructure development related to ZapSibNefteKhim project."

The bank added it will provide financing "including reimbursement of expenses for construction of utilities" such as "water treatment facilities, transport and logistics infrastructure."

Comment: See also:

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Bad Guys

Who's the bigger sponsor of terrorism, US or Iran? The answer should be obvious


Sputnik
Fri, 21 Sep 2018 11:25 UTC
ISIS
© Countercurrents
The United States named Iran on Wednesday as the world's leading sponsor of terrorism, name-dropping six countries where Iran is said to be fomenting violence.

The State Department made the accusation in its annual survey, which has previously named Iran as the world leader in terrorism. The six countries where Iranian meddling - overtly or through proxies - is said to be stirring up conflict and terrorism are: Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Bahrain and Afghanistan.

The year 2018 has seen enormous change in many parts of the Middle East, however. The Syrian war is dying down, and Iraq's elections saw the rise of a leader: Muqtada al-Sadr, a former anti-US fighter who was, prior to the elections, characterized by Western mainstream media as being likely to win on an anti-Iran ticket and after the elections said to be forming a pro-Iranian government.

Lebanon remains stable with a Hezbollah military presence larger than its army and members of Hezbollah in its government. Bahrain remains stable with its Shia majority and Sunni monarchy, with a little help from Saudi Arabia, and Afghanistan remains unstable, with the US government on track to have dropped more bombs than ever on the country since it started keeping track in 2009.

But in Yemen, the conflict is only getting worse, with more and more civilians killed by US-made bombs dropped primarily by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
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Attention

Tucker Carlson: Dems using Ford fiasco to delay Kavanaugh confirmation past deadline - not to get to the truth

Jim Hoft
Gateway Pundit
Fri, 21 Sep 2018 11:06 UTC
tucker carlson
Here is something the liberal mainstream media will not tell you.

This also explains why the far left attorneys for Christine Blasey Ford refuse to testify before next Thursday.

Democrats know if they delay the Kavanaugh vote for another week his confirmation process will be over.

Tucker Carlson explained the senate procedure on his Friday show.

Make no mistake about it. Democrats are using the Christine Ford media fiasco not to get to the truth, but to prevent Trump from placing a justice on the Supreme Court.

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Arrow Down

Iranian experts: Ahvaz was soft target for terrorists - probably Saudi-backed


RT
Sat, 22 Sep 2018 10:40 UTC
ahvaz attack iran
© Morteza Jaberian / ISNA / AFP
A lower security level than in the capital Tehran and a close proximity to Iraq made the Iranian city of Ahvaz an easier target for terrorists, experts told RT, noting the alleged perpetrators have Saudi backing.

The militants opened fire at the parade because they "wanted to find a soft target," Foad Izadi, professor of political communication at the University of Tehran, told RT.

"Many ordinary people show up for the military parade... and the attack was indiscriminate," he said, adding that "four or five children" were among the victims of the incident, which left more than 20 dead and over 50 others injured.


Geography also played a role in Ahvaz being hit by terrorists, Abas Aslani, Iranian journalist, told RT.

"That is close to the Iraqi border and that can be easy for them in order to have better logistics," he said.

Comment: To their credit, the US State Department condemned the attack:
"We are aware of reports of an attack by gunmen on an Iranian military parade in Ahvaz. We stand with the Iranian people against the scourge of radical Islamic terrorism and express our sympathy to them at this terrible time. The United States condemns all acts of terrorism and the loss of any innocent lives," [US State Department spokesperson Heather] Nauert said.
But even then, it's quite hypocritical, no? The U.S. supports anti-Iranian terror groups to do exactly this type of thing: terrorism! How convenient to be able to covertly sponsor terrorism, then publicly take the moral high ground by condemning the terrorism you're actually responsible for...

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Russian Flag

Russian MOD's full video report on IL-20 downing off Syrian coast: Israel culpable


RT
Sun, 23 Sep 2018 09:57 UTC
syria map

Map of the incident on September 17 in Syria provided by the Russian defense ministry.
A minute-by-minute account of the Il-20 downing shows Israel's culpability and either its military bosses' lack of appreciation of relations with Moscow, or their control of commanding officers, the Russian defense ministry said.

"We believe that the blame for the Russian Il-20 aircraft tragedy lies entirely with the Israeli Air Force," said spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov, before revealing a detailed account of events leading to the downing of the Russian Il-20 military aircraft on September 17. The plane was shot down by the Syrian air defense units as Israeli's F-16s effectively used it as a cover during the attack on its neighbor.

The report featured previously undisclosed radar data and details of communications between Russian and Israeli militaries, and concluded that "the military leadership of Israel either has no appreciation for the level of relations with Russia, or has no control over individual commands or commanding officers who understood that their actions would lead to tragedy."

On the evening of September 17, the Russian Ilyushin IL-20 with 15 crew on board was circling over the Idlib de-escalation zone on a special reconnaissance mission, when four Israeli F-16 fighter jets left their country's airspace and flew over the neutral Mediterranean waters towards the Syrian coast. The Israeli Air Force gave the Russian side less than a minute's warning before dropping the precision-guided glide bombs, leaving virtually no time for any safety maneuvers, Konashenkov said, calling such actions "a clear violation of the 2015 Russian-Israeli agreements."


Comment: Not only is Israel responsible, they tried to blame Assad, Hezbollah AND Iran for their own criminal actions. And then the IDF lied, saying the jets weren't even in the region when the Il-20 was downed:

Liars, thieves, criminals: that's the IDF and Israeli leadership.

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Rocket

Niall Bradley on Sputnik: 'Kerry Shadow Diplomacy Exposes US-Israeli Urgency to Contain Iran Before it Acquires Strategic Deterrence'


Sott.net
Sun, 23 Sep 2018 21:08 UTC
john kerry mohammad zarif
Fmr. US Sec. of State John Kerry recently admitted to carrying out 'shadow diplomacy' in order to 'save' the Iran Deal, for which he was lambasted by the Trump administration for undermining its hard-line anti-Iran policy. Kerry is almost certainly in violation of the Logan Act prohibiting civilians from conducting diplomacy on any issue that is contrary to the government's position. The Logan Act, which dates from 1799, is unlikely to be used against Kerry, but a more recent precedent saw Trump's initial National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn, punished for a far less serious diplomatic transgression (namely, speaking on the phone with the Russian ambassador in Washington, DC).

Sott.net editor Niall Bradley joined Andrew Korybko on his Sputnik 'Trendstorm' show this week to discuss what Kerry's game-plan might be here, concluding that, whichever Iran policy 'wins' in Washington, the race is on between US 'good cops' and 'bad cops' to prevent Iran from achieving strategic military deterrence, thereby 'containing' its economic and military development, and thus its influence in the wider southwest Asian region.

Originally published as an .mp3 Trendstorm podcast on Sputnik
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2 + 2 = 4

Russian MoD to present minute-by-minute account of Russian Il-20 downing in Syria


RT
Sun, 23 Sep 2018 08:50 UTC
A Russian Il-20 reconnaissance aircraft
© Sergey Pivovarov / Reuters
A Russian Il-20 reconnaissance aircraft
A by-the-minute account of the events that led to the downing of the Russian Il-20 reconnaissance aircraft in Syria earlier this week will be presented to the public on Sunday, the Russian Ministry of Defence has announced.

The presentation will include objective radar data on the situation in the air above Syria at the time of the "tragedy" on September 17 and "the actions of Israeli aircraft in the area of the plane crash," the ministry said in a statement.

Late on Monday, the Russian Il-20 reconnaissance aircraft, with 15 servicemen aboard, was shot down over the Mediterranean Sea by the Syrian S-200 air defense system.

Comment: See also:

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