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Kurdish Defense Official confirms French troops operate in northern Syria - Putin and Macron discuss the situation in Syria

Helbast Shekhani, Editing by Karzan Sulaivany
Kurdistan 24
Tue, 03 Apr 2018 18:59 UTC
Rezan Gilo, the joint chief of defense in Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava)
© Photo: Kurdistan 24
Rezan Gilo, the joint chief of defense in Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava), speaks to Kurdistan 24 on the latest developments after France promised to support the YPG-led SDF, Qamishlo city, Rojava, Syria, April 2, 2018
A senior official in the Kurdish-run administration in northern Syria on Monday confirmed the presence of French forces in the region.

Rezan Gilo, the joint chief of defense in Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava), told Kurdistan 24 there are French and US troops in Manbij, Raqqa, and all over northern Syria.

"We tell of what we see on the ground, not the statements," he said, responding to some reports denying the presence of those forces in Rojava.

Comment: Turkey on Thursday urged France not to "make the same mistake" as the US by sending troops to the Syrian town of Manbij, which Ankara has threatened to attack to dislodge Kurdish militia.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said Turkey would expand its offensive against the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia to the town in north Syria.

Turkey's Yeni Safak daily said that France had deployed 50 soldiers to Manbij to support the YPG.
Russian President Vladimir Putin in a telephone call with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron spoke about his recent meetings on Syria with Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, the Kremlin press service said in a statement.
"Putin informed Macron about the decisions made at the April 4 Russian-Turkish-Iranian summit in Ankara, which concern further cooperation aimed at ensuring long-term stability in Syria, strengthening the country's sovereignty, unity, independence and territorial integrity," the statement reads. "It was noted that there was a need to advance the political settlement process through implementing the decisions made at the Syrian national Dialogue Congress, as well as to promptly establish a United Nations sponsored Constitutional Committee," the Kremlin press service added.

"The situation in Eastern Ghouta was also discussed, the focus was on the unprecedented large-scale operation to save civilians and withdraw militants not willing to lay down their arms," the statement says. "Russia emphasized the importance of consolidating the global community's efforts to provide humanitarian aid to people in need across Syria in compliance with the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2401," the Kremlin press service pointed out.

The two presidents expressed "readiness to continue Russian-French consultations on key aspects of the Syria settlement."

The Kremlin press service added that the telephone call had been initiated by Paris.


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Biohazard

Russian official: OPCW knows no chem weapons produced at facility accused by anonymous British officials


Sputnik
Fri, 06 Apr 2018 17:12 UTC
laboratory
© CC0
Earlier, the Times newspaper reported that the nerve agent allegedly used to poison a GRU ex-employee, Sergei Skripal, and his daughter, was produced in a laboratory in the Russian city of Shikhany in the Saratov region.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) as well as international experts are aware of the fact that there are no chemical weapons in Russia's Saratov region, the president's special representative in the region, Michail Babich, said.

"Chemical weapons have never been stored or produced at the State Scientific Research Institute of Organic Chemistry and Technology in Shikhany, which was mentioned in the British intelligence's report," Babich told reporters.

According to the official, the site is working on the eradication of organic chemicals, agricultural chemicals, pesticides and so on.

"Our colleagues from the OPCW are fully aware of it. And it is bewildering how Uzumju, the director general of the OPCW, who had visited all the chemical facilities in Russia, was modestly silent at the organization's emergency meeting on April 4 about this fact," Babich emphasized.


Comment: Uzumju is probably under a lot of pressure. Western intelligence can be very 'persuasive'.


"Of course, this is another confirmation of the scale of the provocation against Russia and the enormous pressure on international officials that Britain and its allies are exerting nowadays," the presidential envoy concluded.

Comment: See Alexander Mercouris's latest for more on the anonymous sources attempting to cover up for the UK's shoddy PR campaign by providing leaked "evidence": The Skripal case and UK's flagrant misuse of 'intelligence'

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Biohazard

Lithuanian, Bulgarian, German officials: UK has presented no proof of Russian involvement in Skripal poisoning


Sputnik
Wed, 04 Apr 2018 17:06 UTC
Saulius Skvernelis
© AFP 2018/ Petras Malukas
Lithuanian Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis has called on the British government to furnish cogent evidence of Russia's involvement in the nerve agent attack on former Russian intelligent officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, saying the current assessment is not convincing.

In an interview with Lithuanian radio station Ziniu Radijas, the prime minister said that Russia's involvement in the Skripal poisoning case hasn't been proven with 100 percent certainty and he urged the UK to finally provide concrete evidence.

"I think that both the UK and international experts should give us a clear answer and draw a line under the case because right now it is highly likely that Russia had its hands in the case - but a possibility is not a 100 percent proof of the fact," Skvernelis said Thursday.

"I hope that experts investigating this will be able to provide concrete evidence," the Lithuanian leader concluded.

Comment: When even the Baltics question your anti-Russian 'evidence', you know it's bad.

Bulgaria's president, Rumen Radev, also spoke out, saying there must be "clear and irrefutable" evidence before Bulgaria is to expel any Russian diplomats.
"Let's not forget that Bulgaria is currently President of the Council of the European Union and as such, it must conduct a policy of dialogue and balance", said Radev, preaching caution and 'transparency' in the investigation.
And the German government's coordinator for Russia, Gernot Erler:
The UK has yet to prove that Russia is culpable in the Skripal poisoning case, and recent revelations contradicting the claim have "raised the pressure" on London, a German government representative said. ... London needed to cough up evidence of Moscow's guilt after the UK's Porton Down military research center said on Tuesday that it could not verify that the nerve agent used in the attack came from Russia.

"That contradicts what we had previously heard from British politicians and will certainly raise the pressure on Britain to show further proof that the traces plausibly point to Moscow," Erler told German broadcaster ARD.
...
Erler added that the contradictory statements coming from London now called into question the reliability of other claims made by Prime Minister Theresa May and her government. Citing classified intelligence reports, the UK government has suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin may have ordered the nerve agent attack that targeted ex-double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury on March 4.

"These (reports) are not known publicly and now there is pressure for more of this information to be made known, otherwise the whole thing is not transparent," he said.

Asked by ARD who is responsible for the attack, Erler stated simply: "We don't know."

Erler is the second German official this week to publicly rebuke the UK for its handling of the case. On Tuesday, Armin Laschet, the leader of North Rhine-Westphalia and a deputy chairman of Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), tweeted: "If you force almost all NATO countries to show solidarity, shouldn't you have sound evidence? You can think of Russia what you want, but I have learned a different way of dealing with states from studying international law."


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Eye 2

The (mostly unrecognized) US occupation and plunder of Syria

Stephen Gowans
what's left
Sun, 11 Mar 2018 15:43 UTC
US military syria

An American military convoy consisting of several armored vehicles reportedly entered Syria from the Iraqi border on April 29, 2017
The United States has invaded Syria with a significant military force, is occupying nearly one-third of its territory, has announced plans for an indefinite occupation, and is plundering the country's petroleum resources. Washington has no authorization under international or even US law to invade and occupy Syria, much less attack Syrian forces, which it has done repeatedly. Nor has it a legal warrant to create new administrative and governance structures in the country to replace the Syrian government, a project it is undertaking through a parallel invasion of US diplomatic personnel. These actions-criminal, plunderous, and an assault on democracy at an international level-amount to a retrograde project of recolonization by an empire bent on extending its supremacy to all the Arab and Muslim worlds, including the few remaining outposts of resistance to foreign tyranny. Moreover, US actions represent an escalation of Washington's long war on Syria, previously carried out through proxies, including the Muslim Brotherhood and Al Qaeda, into a full-scale conventional war with direct US military involvement. Yet, despite the enormity of the project, and the escalation of the war, the US occupation of Syria has largely flown under the radar of public awareness.

Atop multiple indignities and affronts to liberty and democracy visited upon the Arab world by the West, including the plunder of Palestine by European settlers and the political oppression of Arabs by a retinue of military dictators, monarchs, emirs and sultans who rule largely at the pleasure of Washington and on its behalf, now arrives the latest US transgression on the ideals of sovereignty, independence, and the equality of nations: marauders in Washington have pilfered part of the territory of one of the last bastions of Arab independence-Syria. Indeed, Washington now controls "about one-third of the country including most of its oil wealth", [1] has no intention of returning it to its rightful owners, has planned for an indefinite military occupation of eastern Syria, and is creating a new Israel, which is to say, an new imperialist outpost in the middle of the Arab world, to be governed by Kurdish proxies backed by US firepower. [2] The crime has been carried out openly, and yet has hardly been noticed or remarked upon.

Here are the facts:
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Info

Mexico threatens to stop helping US fight drug cartels if US troops deployed to border

Ildefonso Ortiz and Brandon Darby
Breitbart
Thu, 05 Apr 2018 16:43 UTC
US-Mexico border wall prototypes
© AFP Photo/GUILLERMO ARIAS
Prototypes for President Donald Trump's planned border wall: illegal immigration across the Mexico border has surged in recent months to pre-Trump levels.
The Mexican Senate passed a resolution seeking an end to bilateral cooperation with the U.S. against drug cartels and immigration problems after President Trump ordered National Guard troops to the border.

The resolution was passed in a unanimous fashion and sent to the White House, Members of the U.S. Congress, and Mexico's Foreign Relations Officer, El Universal reported.

"Despite everything that is at stake in the relationship between our two countries, the way in which President Donald Trump has behaved is, for the Mexican people, unacceptable and intolerable," El Universal quoted from the document.

The resolution demands that President Trump respect the people of Mexico, and notes the Senate "condemns the unfounded and offensive expressions about Mexico and Mexicans and the treatment that is needed for a relationship between neighboring countries, partners, and allies."

Other portions of the resolution reject efforts to "militarize the border with Mexico" and considered the measure offensive. In the third portion of the resolution, the Senate calls for Mexico to stop any binational cooperation with the U.S. in dealing with immigration matters and fighting transnational organized crime (cartels) until Trump "acts with civility and respect."

Comment: See also:

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Mr. Potato

Nutjob Nikki Haley sez: 'Russia will never be our friend, we'll slap them when needed'


RT
Fri, 06 Apr 2018 15:41 UTC
Nikki Haley
© Don EMMERT / AFP
US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley.
Nikki Haley has erupted in another fiery Russophobic rant, warning that Russia will "never be America's friend." Moscow can try to behave "like a regular country," but the US will "slap them when we need to," Haley said.

The US ambassador to the UN is not known for her friendly stance toward Moscow, but her new take on US-Russia relations stands out among even her most rabid ramblings. Speaking at Duke University in North Carolina on Friday, Haley admitted that friendly relations with Russia is an unlikely prospect, adding that the Trump team has done more against Moscow than any other administration since Ronald Reagan's tenure.

"Russia's never going to be our friend," Haley told students at a Q&A session, responding to a question about "holding Russia accountable" for alleged meddling in the 2016 presidential election. The diplomat said Washington still works with Moscow "when we need to, and we slap them when we need to."

She then raised the stakes further: "Everybody likes to listen to the words. I'm going to tell you - look at the actions," Haley urged. "We expelled 60 Russian diplomats/spies, we have armed Ukraine so that they can defend themselves," she added.

Comment: Nikki Haley is pure evil.

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Vader

Russian envoy to NATO: 'You crossed red line with military build-up along our border'

Frank Sellers
The Duran
Thu, 05 Apr 2018 15:06 UTC
Nato soldiers
NATO has tripled its military attendance at Russia's western borders over the past five years, forcing Moscow to take retaliatory steps

NATO is bringing a "military dimension" to tensions between Russia and some of its Western neighbors by following through with a military build up which includes NATO military bases, and even missile defense systems. Russia's delegate to NATO, Aleksandr Grushko, stresses that the security situation has gone from tight concerns to armed apprehension, calling these maneuvers "unjustified" at a panel at the Valdai Club:
NATO has crossed a line with its "unjustified" military build-up on Russia's doorstep, Russian envoy to NATO Aleksandr Grushko has warned. He added that global security cannot be ensured without Russia.

Relations with states neighboring Russia never developed "military dimensions" despite strained relations with some of them, including with the Baltic states, Grushko said. But the situation has now changed, thanks to the military bloc, he told a discussion panel at the Valdai Club on Tuesday.

"Now, thanks to NATO, we have a military dimension, it was their choice, they crossed the red line," Grushko said.

While the West has been trying hard to isolate Russia and fuel anti-Russian hysteria, international security is the only thing that suffers from this approach, according to Grushko. Any NATO and EU attempts to create "isolated safe havens" are doomed to failure, the diplomat said, as the creation of solid security systems cannot succeed without Russia.

"If they do not want dialogue, then there won't be any. It takes two to tango, as you know, it will be a conscious choice of the alliance," Grushko said.

Comment:

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Play

Ex-OSCE VP Willy Wimmer says UK behaving like 'mafia state' over Skripal case


RT
Wed, 04 Apr 2018 14:58 UTC
willy wimmer
The UK is exploiting European solidarity and behaving like a 'mafia state' by pushing forward warmongering accusations and excluding Russia from the Skripal poisoning probe, the former vice-president of OSCE assembly told RT.

Britain's behavior in the Skripal poisoning scandal is "a major danger to international peace," believes Willy Wimmer, who held the vp position with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) assembly from 1994 to 2000, and who had previously served as state secretary to Germany's defense minister.

"I think we would call this state a mafia state because it is against all European and international rules and regulations how the British government has behaved in a criminal case with regard to another country," Wimmer told RT.

The UK has a history of pressing forward warmongering rhetoric, Wimmer said, recalling Britain's decision to go to war in Iraq. "We, as Europeans, have an experience with the British. We only have to look back to Tony Blair. They lie from one war into the next one." The long awaited Chilcot report, published in 2016, offered a damning critique of Blair, stating that he deliberately exaggerated the threat posed by the Iraqi regime and had relied on "flawed"intelligence.

"And that is why I think as long as the British don't behave in a proper, legal, international way, I think we all should believe that this is another British lie, at least to go for war against Russia," Wimmer added.


Comment: Wimmer is right, and his dissent hints at an undercurrent in Western politics that reflects the U.S.-Russia rivalry. If there's one thing the U.S. (and by extension the UK) fear, it is a Germany that gets closer to Russia. That's what they have feared for over 100 years. Keeping France and Germany out of the Russian sphere of influence has been a top priority for the Mackinder-influenced geopolitical ideologues of the West. But the U.S. keeps pushing European people into a position where they have little choice but to look to Russia, e.g., the sanctions, which hurt countries like Germany more than they hurt Russia. The West may just be the instrument of its own demise.

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Quenelle

UK contradicting itself in Skripal case, has provided no proof Russia is to blame - German official


RT
Thu, 05 Apr 2018 16:41 UTC
big ben flag
© Niklas Halle'n / AFP
The UK has yet to prove that Russia is culpable in the Skripal poisoning case, and recent revelations contradicting the claim have "raised the pressure" on London, a German government representative said.

Gernot Erler, who serves as the German government's coordinator for Russia, said that London needed to cough up evidence of Moscow's guilt after the UK's Porton Down military research center said on Tuesday that it could not verify that the nerve agent used in the attack came from Russia.

"That contradicts what we had previously heard from British politicians and will certainly raise the pressure on Britain to show further proof that the traces plausibly point to Moscow," Erler told German broadcaster ARD.

Comment: Clearly the supposed evidence is lacking otherwise there would be no reluctance for a transparent investigation: Also check out SOTT radio's: Behind the Headlines: Facebook and Cambridge Analytica - Trump Dumped - Skripal Saga

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Arrow Down

Schengen agreement falters: France to extend internal EU border checks due to 'terrorism', 5 other countries plan to do similar


Euractiv
Wed, 04 Apr 2018 08:04 UTC
A group of migrants run on a road just after crossing the Italian border near Mongenevre, southeastern France, 16 January 2018.
© Guillaune Horcajuelo/EPA/EFE
A group of migrants run on a road just after crossing the Italian border near Mongenevre, southeastern France, 16 January 2018.
France said Wednesday (4 April) it has decided to extend border checks with countries in Europe's Schengen passport-free zone until the end of October because of the persistent threat of terrorism.

France introduced border controls after the Islamic State group attacks that killed 130 people in Paris on 13 November 2015 and has renewed them every six months since then amid new attacks.

A 'mea culpa' emerged from the emergency meeting on security matters on Friday (20 November), as EU member states acknowledged they did not use all the tools at their disposal to address the terrorist threats.

Comment: See: Also check out SOTT radio's: The Truth Perspective: Weapons of Mass Migration: Interview with Michael Springmann on Europe's Migrant Crisis

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