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Iraq would face 'wrath of US' if oil pipeline projects with Iran go ahead


RT
Tue, 27 Aug 2019 17:35 UTC
oil fields
© Reuters / Essam Al-Sudani
Washington would do anything to prevent an Iran-Iraq oil pipeline from ever being built, even if the Europeans were in favor, policy researchers told RT.

"Iraq would feel the wrath of the US" should it pursue a cross-border pipeline project with its neighbor Iran, believes the head of the British-based consultancy firm Alfa Energy, John Hall.

According to a recent report, Tehran talked with Baghdad about building an oil pipeline through Iraq into Syria. The sides have also reportedly discussed reviving the existing pipeline connecting Kirkuk in Iraqi Kurdistan with the city of Baniyas on Syria's Mediterranean coast. The pipeline was heavily damaged by US airstrikes in 2003 and has remained defunct since. The proposed project is said to be aimed at providing an alternative route for Iranian oil should the Strait of Hormuz be closed in case of a direct conflict with the US.
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No Entry

Iran's Rouhani refuses to meet Trump until all sanctions are lifted


RT
Tue, 27 Aug 2019 17:32 UTC
Hassan Rouhani and Donald Trump
© (L) Reuters / Official President website; (R) Reuters/Christian Hartmann
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said he has no interest in talking with Donald Trump as long as US sanctions on Tehran stay in place. Trump floated the idea of meeting Rouhani at the G7 summit.

During the G7 event in France on Monday, Trump said he would be ready to meet Rouhani "if the circumstances were right." For such a meeting to happen, Tehran has to "be a good player" and complete a laundry list of demands, including abandoning its ballistic missiles program, the president stressed. He added that there is a "really good chance" that he would hold talks with Rouhani sometime in the future.

Rouhani, however, said that he is not interested in sitting down with Trump unless the US scraps all sanctions first.
The US should act by lifting all illegal, unjust and unfair sanctions imposed on Iran.
The Iranian leader added that productive talks are "impossible" unless Washington "respects the rights of the Iranian people."
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Light Sabers

'He was long aware of travel ban': Russia dismisses hawkish US senator's claim he was denied visa


RT
Tue, 27 Aug 2019 17:29 UTC
russian flags
© Global Look Press/ x99
Moscow dismissed claims by US Republican Senator Ron Johnson that he was denied entry to the country over his scathing criticism of the Kremlin. The lawmaker well knew he was blacklisted so he never applied for a visa, it said.

In a strongly worded statement on Monday, Johnson claimed that his visit to Russia as part of a bipartisan congressional delegation was about to be derailed after he failed to get a green light from the Russian authorities.
"Unfortunately, Russian officials continue to play diplomatic games with this sincere effort and have denied me entrance to Russia".
Johnson, who is the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's Subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security Cooperation, then launched into a long Russia-bashing tirade, describing President Vladimir Putin's policy as "a tragedy of historic proportions."
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Star of David

Lebanon, Iraq, Iran call out Israel's 'declaration of war' after it bombs 3 COUNTRIES in one weekend


RT
Tue, 27 Aug 2019 17:26 UTC
israel military
© Global Look / Ayal Margolin
Lebanon, Iraq and Iran have declared recent Israeli aggression as an act of war after attacks on Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq over the weekend, promising devastating retaliation if the violence continues.

A pair of kamikaze drone attacks on Beirut's southern suburbs on Sunday and a drone strike on Palestinian militia in the Bekaa Valley early on Monday morning were akin to "a declaration of war," Lebanese President Michel Aoun told the United Nations Special Coordinator on Monday, adding that the aggression "allows us to resort to our right to defending our sovereignty."

The international community must reject Israel's "blatant violation" of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 war between Lebanon and Israel, PM Saad al-Hariri implored ambassadors from the UN Security Council's permanent members. "Any escalation could develop into a regional cycle of violence that nobody can predict the extent of."

And any Israeli drones overflying Lebanon will be shot out of the sky, Hezbollah Secretary-General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah warned Tel Aviv. "Hezbollah will tolerate no more Israeli drones penetrating Lebanese airspace," he declared on Sunday after an explosive-laden drone took out Hezbollah's media center in Beirut.
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Snakes in Suits

Forever war: Bolton says there's no need for Zelenskiy to 'rush' into action on Donbass and come to agreement with Russia


RFE/RL
Tue, 27 Aug 2019 10:25 UTC
John Bolton

U.S. national-security adviser John Bolton speaks to the media after a wreath-laying ceremony at the memorial for soldiers killed in the conflict in eastern Ukraine in Kyiv on August 27.
U.S. national-security adviser John Bolton says there is no need for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to "rush" into any course of action regarding Russia's involvement with separatist forces in eastern Ukraine.

"I think, from the perspective of a new government in Ukraine, President Zelenskiy would be well-advised to look at how to unfold a strategy of dealing with the Russians very carefully," Bolton told RFE/RL in a wide-ranging interview on August 27 in Ukraine's capital, Kyiv.

"I don't think there is any reason to rush it into one course of action or another.... I think working this through over a period of time makes sense for the new government in Ukraine."


Comment: In other words, the US/Kiev/neoNazi-driven illegal war against the people of Donbass has going on for nearly five years. Why stop now and try to rectify this horrible situation when it continues to promise for more chaos and pressure towards Russia?!


"I don't suppose that the Europeans are going to have a solution that is readily apparent," he added in reference to the so-called Normandy format of negations aimed at ending the Ukraine conflict.


Comment: What the article doesn't say at the end of it is that the people of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions took up arms in self defense.

The article also doesn't mention that it is Kiev's totally ignoring the agreements made in the Minsk agreements between the Ukraine, Russia and other parties that has kept Kiev's killing machine in motion.

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Sherlock

Long Before Epstein: The Unsavory History of Intelligence Agencies Providing Protection to Child Sex-Trafficking Rings

Elizabeth Vos
Consortium News
Fri, 23 Aug 2019 17:13 UTC
Jeffrey Epstein’s compound in the Virgin Islands

Jeffrey Epstein’s compound in the Virgin Islands
The alleged use of sexual blackmail by spy agencies is hardly unique to the case of Jeffrey Epstein. Although the agencies involved as well as their alleged motivations and methods differ with each case, the crime of child trafficking with ties to intelligence agencies or those protected by them has been around for decades.

Some cases include the 1950s -1970s Kincora scandal and the 1981 Peter Hayman affair, both in the U.K.; and the Finders' cult and the Franklin scandal in the U.S. in the late 1980s. Just as these cases did not end in convictions, the pedophile and accused child-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein remained at arms' length for years.

"For almost two decades, for some nebulous reason, whether to do with ties to foreign intelligence, his billions of dollars, or his social connections, Epstein, whose alleged sexual sickness and horrific assaults on women without means or ability to protect themselves... remained untouchable," journalist Vicky Ward wrote in The Daily Beast in July.

The protection of sex traffickers by intelligence agencies is especially interesting in the wake of Epstein's death. Like others, Epstein had long been purported to have links with spy agencies. Such allegations documented by Whitney Webb in her multi-part series were recently published in Mintpress News.

Comment: We can keep wishing that the authorities will investigate, but until some kind of fundamental regime change takes place in the western world, it aint happening. In case after case, the authorities shut down investigations through a combination of lawfare and outright murder. The victims who speak up, if they survive, are thrown into prison for 'lying'. At least 30 (THIRTY) people - including victims, eyewitnesses, judges, lawyers, police investigators and others were 'suicided' in the aftermath of the Dutroux case. God knows how many more thousands of children have been 'processed' through that network alone in the intervening decades.

These satanists - for want of a better term - are, for now, untouchable.

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Control Panel

Lebanese Prime Minister requests assistance from Russian Foreign Minister to prevent escalation of Israel-Lebanon conflict


Sputnik
Tue, 27 Aug 2019 13:23 UTC
Building bombed by Israeli forces in Ghaziyeh
© CC BY 2.0 / Masser
Building bombed by Israeli forces in Ghaziyeh
Relations between Lebanon and Israel escalated after Tel Aviv reportedly carried out airstrikes against Palestinian militant positions near Beirut and the town of Qousaya. Lebanese President Michel Aoun later called the attacks a "declaration of war".

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri has asked Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to prevent Israeli-Lebanese tensions from escalation in a phone conversation.

"In light of the incident involving Israeli drones, which happened in the skies over Beirut on 25 August, Hariri asked Russia to use its reputation and influence to prevent a further escalation of tensions between Israel and Lebanon, as this jeopardises regional security. The Russian side confirmed its commitment to the sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and stability of friendly Lebanon, stressing the need for all sides to abide strictly by international law and Resolution 1701 of the UN Security Council in particular", the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

Lebanon's Higher Defence Council is scheduled to hold an urgent meeting later on 27 August in the wake of the attacks.

Comment: Thanks to Israel's belligerence and pathological drive towards conflict, war and domination in the Middle East, saner voices are requesting the assistance of one of the few forces of peace and constructive relations in the geopolitical and diplomatic world: Russia.

See also:

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Russian Flag

Putin talks with Erdogan on joint production of Su-35 and Su-57 jets and other military products

Tim Korso
Sputnik
Tue, 27 Aug 2019 16:23 UTC
putin and erdogan
© Sputnik / Alexey Nikolsky
Following the US decision to suspend F-35 procurements for Turkey due to the latter's decision to buy Russian S-400 air defence systems, Moscow offered Ankara to study the possibility of replacing American jets with a Russian analogue, the Su-35.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan have discussed the possibility of continuing cooperation in the defence industry, including on both fourth-generation Su-35 and fifth-generation Su-57 jets. He added that Turkey is interested in not only buying, but also jointly producing military products.

The Turkish president has confirmed this and said that Ankara wants to continue cooperating with Moscow in the defence industry, including on the production of jets.

The presidents of the two countries met at Russia's MAKS-2019 air show that took place in the Moscow suburbs on 27 August. Russia's cutting edge fifth-generation Su-57 stealth fighter jets were featured during this year's show.

Comment: Putin also understands one of the best ways to break the ice of diplomatic posturing: ice cream!


Turkey is still playing a double-game in northern Syria, but even Russian-Syrian airstrikes against its operatives doesn't seem to impact its long-term vision: quadrupling Russian-Turkish trade turnover to $100 billion, and settling payments in their respective national currencies...

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Bulb

'We're living the end of Western hegemony': Macron urges to stop pushing Russia away from Europe


RT
Mon, 26 Aug 2019 22:47 UTC
macron
© Yoan Valat / Pool / Reuters
French President Emmanuel Macron has warned that it would be a "strategic mistake" for Western nations not to change their attitude toward Moscow.

"We are living the end of Western hegemony," Macron told diplomats on Tuesday, after hosting the G7 meeting in the city of Biarritz on France's Atlantic coast over the weekend. He named the rise of Beijing and Moscow as signs of a shift on the world scene.
Pushing Russia away from Europe is a profound strategic mistake.
"We're either pushing Russia into isolation, which increases tensions, or to ally itself with other major powers like China, which would not be in our interest," Macron said, calling for the "rethinking" of relations with Moscow. Otherwise, Europe will be stuck with "frozen conflicts" and will remain "a theater for strategic struggle between the US and Russia," he stressed.
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Oil Well

Iran sells oil on freed tanker to unnamed buyer who will decide its ultimate destination


RFE/RL
Mon, 26 Aug 2019 09:36 UTC
Grace 1

An Iranian flag flies on the oil tanker Adrian Darya 1, previously named Grace 1, as it sits anchored after authorities in the British territory lifted their detention order in mid-August.
Iran says it has sold the oil from an Iranian-flagged supertanker at the center of a standoff between Tehran and Washington.

Government spokesman Ali Rabiei told a news conference in Tehran on August 26 that the owner of the oil will decide the ship's ultimate destination.

The spokesman did not identify the buyer.

Data from Refinitiv Eikon, an industry source of data on tanker traffic, indicates that the Adrian Darya 1, formerly known as Grace 1, is no longer recorded as heading for Turkey, its indicated destination at the weekend.

The tanker is sought by the United States as it sails through the Mediterranean Sea with 2.1 million barrels of crude oil, worth some $130 million.

Comment: It would appear that even those countries obedient to the US are increasingly reluctant to comply with its demands: G7 visit by Iran's Zarif was no surprise, but 'it was too soon' - Trump

See also:

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