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Russia begins pumping natural gas into Turkish Stream pipeline


RT
Sat, 19 Oct 2019 11:22 UTC
turkstream
© turkstream.info
Gazprom has started to fill the first branch of the offshore section of the Turkish Stream pipeline with natural gas. This is the final stage of testing the pipeline before putting it into operation later this year.

"Filling the pipeline system with gas is a significant step towards the start of actual gas supplies to Turkey and South-East Europe through the new system of offshore gas pipelines," said the pipeline's operator South Stream Transport B.V. It added that the first deliveries are scheduled for the end of 2019.

The major joint project between Moscow and Ankara, the Turkish Stream (aka TurkStream), was officially agreed in October 2016. It involves the construction of a gas pipeline consisting of two branches with a capacity of 15.75 billion cubic meters each. The first line is intended for the supply of Russian gas to Turkish consumers, the second - for gas supply to the countries of Southern and Southeast Europe.

Comment: With Turkey's operation in Syria right now, and with Russia watching, the timing of this is brilliantly coincidental:

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Caesar

Is Putin the new 'King' of the Middle East?

Patrick J. Buchanan
Buchanan.org
Fri, 18 Oct 2019 12:00 UTC
putin
© PixaBay
If Putin wants to be king of this, and it is OK with Assad, how does that imperil the United States of America, 6,000 miles away?
"Russia Assumes Mantle of Supreme Power Broker in the Middle East," proclaimed Britain's Telegraph. The article began:

"Russia's status as the undisputed power-broker in the Middle East was cemented as Vladimir Putin continued a triumphant tour of capitals traditionally allied to the US."

"Donald Trump Has Handed Putin the Middle East on a Plate" was the title of a Telegraph column. "Putin Seizes on Trump's Syria Retreat to Cement Middle East Role," said the Financial Times.

The U.S. press parroted the British: Putin is now the new master of the Mideast. And woe is us.

Comment: See also:

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Bullseye

Canadian populist leader Maxime Bernier: 'Reject global warming alarmism'

Maxime Bernier
Times Colonist
Wed, 16 Oct 2019 06:00 UTC
Maxime Bernier
© Justin Tang, The Associated Press
People's Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier, speaking at the federal leaders election debate on Oct. 10 in Gatineau, Que.
A commentary by the leader of the People's Party of Canada and MP for the Quebec riding of Beauce.

This is the second in a series of commentaries about climate change from Canada's main political parties; they are being published daily this week.
Justin Trudeau's Liberal government has spent billions of dollars at home and abroad to fight global warming — or "climate change" as it is now called, to account for every natural weather event and its opposite.

To lower greenhouse gas emissions, the government has imposed a carbon tax, other taxes and countless regulations. It subsidizes inefficient and costly "green technology," and it is blocking the development of oil resources crucial to our prosperity.

Comment: See also:

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Star of David

How Israel's security minister Gilad Erdan is using Temple extremists as his ticket to power

Richard Silverstein
Palestine Responds
Thu, 17 Oct 2019 00:00 UTC
Ultra Orthodox Jew walks reading from a book
© AFP
An Ultra Orthodox Jew walks reading from a book in the east Jerusalem on 24 January
The headline leapt off the page of Makor Rishon, one of the right-wing Israeli dailies owned by Sheldon Adelson. Israel's public security minister, Gilad Erdan, boasted: "Freedom of worship on the Temple Mount? It can happen in the next few years, a decade at most."

He added: "Everyone must consider what he can do in the context of [Israeli] responsibility and authority to achieve sovereignty over our people's holiest site, our holy Mount. This is what I myself do and promise to do even more in future."

The explicit meaning of such statements is clear to all Israelis: Erdan plans to topple the decades-old compact between Israel and the Jordanian Jerusalem Awqaf, according to which the Awqaf exercised exclusive authority over Al-Aqsa Mosque, to offer the most extreme Israeli settlers, who seek to rebuild the Temple, total and free access to Al-Aqsa.

Full access

Given that it is the third holiest site in Islam, and that the Jordanian government is its guardian, offering full access to settlers will cause an immediate rupture within the Muslim world. It will threaten to resume the deadly riots which brought tens of thousands of Palestinians to Al-Aqsa when in July 2017 Israel installed intrusive surveillance equipment at the compound entrances.

Comment: See also:

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Stock Down

China records lowest quarterly economic growth in 27 years

Paul Antonopoulos
Fort Russ News
Fri, 18 Oct 2019 21:46 UTC
china stocks
In the midst of a trade war with the United States and falling domestic demand, China registered a 6% GDP increase in the third quarter of the year compared to the same period of 2018.

That is the smallest number since Beijing began compiling the data in 1993, the Associated Press reports.

Quarterly economic growth was announced by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Friday. According to the Beijing agency, the number was lower than expected by analysts (6.1%) and the annual economic growth of 2019, compared to 2018, is at 6.2%.

Comment: See also:

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Yoda

Tulsi Nails it on National TV: US Regime-Change Wars

Finian Cunningham
The Strategic Culture Foundation
Fri, 18 Oct 2019 21:11 UTC
Tulsi Gabbard
© Stefani Reynolds
Tulsi Gabbard
No wonder Democratic Party bosses and mainstream media are trying to bury presidential contender Tulsi Gabbard. She is the only candidate, perhaps the only politician in the US, who is telling the American public exactly what they need to know about what their government and military are really up to: fighting illegal regime-change wars, and to boot, sponsoring terrorists for that purpose.

It didn't come much clearer nor more explicit than when Gabbard fired up the Democratic TV debate this week. It was billed as the biggest televised presidential debate ever, and the Hawaii Representative told some prime-time home-truths to the nation:

"Donald Trump has blood of the Kurds on his hands, but so do many of the politicians in our country from both parties who have supported this ongoing regime-change war in Syria that started in 2011... along with many in the mainstream media who have been championing and cheer-leading this regime-change war."

Comment: Outspoken, brave, truthful - which is why the establishment wants to shut her down:


Tulsi Gabbard takes the gloves off on Twitter:






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Arrow Up

Trump says 'tough' love with Turkey got Syria ceasefire done


RT
Thu, 17 Oct 2019 18:29 UTC
Trump and others
© Reuters/Jonathan Ernst
US President Donald Trump
US President Donald Trump hailed the news that Turkey agreed to halt its operation in Syria pending the withdrawal of Kurdish militia from the 'safe zone' along the border, crediting his "tough love" approach for the breakthrough.

"This deal could NEVER have been made 3 days ago. There needed to be some 'tough' love in order to get it done," Trump tweeted on Thursday, adding he was "proud of all" involved.

Moments earlier, Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that Ankara had agreed to a 120-hour ceasefire, and to stop its 'Operation Peace Spring' entirely if the US-allied Kurdish militias completed their withdrawal beyond a 20-kilometer "safe zone" along the Turkey-Syria border.

Trump's "tough love" most likely referred to sanctions against individual Turkish officials involved in the operation and steep tariffs on Turkish steel, which he threatened Ankara with after the incursion began last week.
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Snakes in Suits

Top diplomat: Obama administration, not international community, ordered Ukraine prosecutor's firing

Sean Davis
The Federalist
Wed, 16 Oct 2019 00:00 UTC
HBiden
© ABC News
Hunter Biden
A top U.S. diplomat and expert on Ukraine testified to Congress yesterday that the Obama administration — with former Vice President Joe Biden as its point man — orchestrated the firing of the Ukrainian prosecutor who was investigating a company connected to the Biden family, sources familiar with the testimony told The Federalist.

The testimony of George Kent, a State Department official who works on the agency's Ukraine portfolio, directly contradicts claims that the Obama administration was merely following the lead of the so-called international community in demanding the firing of Viktor Shokin, a controversial Ukrainian prosecutor who was reportedly investigating Burisma, a global energy company long suspected of corruption and money laundering. In 2014, Burisma paid Hunter Biden, Joe Biden's son, tens of thousands of dollars to sit on its board despite the younger Biden's complete lack of expertise or professional experience running a multi-national oil and gas concern.

Kent told lawmakers on Tuesday that the Obama administration spearheaded the efforts to have Shokin removed from his position as the top federal prosecutor in Ukraine. Kent said the international community — namely the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Western nations within the European Union — were deferential to U.S. directives on the matter. At a 2018 event organized by the Council on Foreign Relations, Joe Biden — who was tasked by then-President Barack Obama to lead the U.S. government's efforts in Ukraine — bragged about threatening to withhold a billion-dollar loan guarantee if the Ukrainian government refused to fire Shokin.
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Snakes in Suits

Tories blast Corbyn for rejecting the Boris Brexit deal before reading it


RT
Fri, 18 Oct 2019 07:58 UTC
JohnsonCorbyn
© WPA Pool
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson • Labor Leader Jeremy Corbyn
Jeremy Corbyn has been roundly criticized by his political opponents for rejecting Boris Johnson's Brexit deal with the EU out of hand without reading it.

Corbyn was quoted by the PA news service at 10:51am local time Thursday, rejecting what he called a "sell-out deal" despite the fact the full legal text of the agreement was only emailed out by 10 Downing Street at 11:17am.
The Labour leader confirmed he will support a referendum on the deal before it comes into effect, which could further delay the process which has dragged on for three years, much to the frustration of 'Leave' voters and EU negotiators.

Comment: None of them read any of these before seeing them. That's because they're all united in not allowing Brexit to happen.

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Cell Phone

AG Barr's special Russia investigator procured Mifsud BlackBerrys used in FBI Russia-Trump probe

Rowan Scarborough
The Washington Times
Thu, 17 Oct 2019 00:00 UTC
Flynn Powell
© azerbaycan24.com/Fox News
General Michael Flynn • Lawyer Sidney Powell
It was special investigator John Durham who acquired two BlackBerrys used by Joseph Mifsud, the Maltese professor who jumped-started the FBI's long Russia probe into President Trump's campaign.

Attorney General William P. Barr assigned Mr. Durham, the U.S. attorney for Connecticut, the mission of finding out the origins of the FBI's counter-intelligence investigation known as Crossfire Hurricane.

Sidney Powell, attorney for retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, filed a court motion on Monday disclosing the phones' existence while tying them to Western intelligence. She told The Washington Times on Thursday that she has confirmed that it was Mr. Durham's office who obtained them. She told The Times that a "source," whom she declined to identify, told her about the BlackBerrys.

Ms. Powell has added to the Mifsud intrigue with her motion before District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan asking him to order the government to turn over the BlackBerrys' data. The filing lists the two phones' model number, PIN and SIM card information.
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