Puppet MastersS


MIB

London attack: West's terrorists bite the hand that feeds (again)

Tony Cartalucci
New Eastern Outlook
Wed, 12 Feb 2020 00:00 UTC
London police
The latest incident in London was so entirely preventable that it is difficult to describe it as anything less than deliberate.

In yet another headline-grabbing terror attack - an armed man in south London left several injured - some seriously - with the suspect himself killed at the scene by police.

Entirely predictable was the fact that the suspect named as Sudesh Amman - was a known terrorist - having been previously arrested, tried, and imprisoned for terror-related offenses, only to be inexplicably released early.

The London Telegraph in its article, "Streatham attack knifeman named as Sudesh Amman who had a previous terror conviction," would report regarding his earlier conviction that:
Alexis Boon, then head of the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command, said at the time of his conviction that Amman had a "fierce interest in violence and martyrdom".

He explained: "His fascination with dying in the name of terrorism was clear in a notepad we recovered from his home. Amman had scrawled his 'life goals' in the notepad and top of the list, above family activities, was dying a martyr and going to 'Jannah' - the afterlife.
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Bad Guys

U.S. Customs Chief admits agents mistreated Iranian Americans at U.S.-Canada border


RFE/RL
Wed, 12 Feb 2020 23:30 UTC
Canadian border
© Reuters / Chris Helgren
The acting head of the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency acknowledged that agents were out of line last month when they detained dozens of Iranian-Americans and Iranians at a border crossing near Canada in Washington State.

While providing January border-crossing statistics in Washington on February 11, Mark Morgan, the agency's acting commissioner, said agents behaved in a way "that was not in line with our direction," when they held more than 60 U.S. citizens of Iranian heritage for up to 10 hours or more for questioning.

It was a rare admission of misconduct from the agency and the first public recognition of the incidents.

Accounts from travelers and advocacy groups reported dozens of people being held over the January 4-5 weekend at an entry point in Blaine, Washington.
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Chess

U.S. Senate advances resolution limiting Trump's actions against Iran


RFE/RL
Thu, 13 Feb 2020 23:23 UTC
trump
© Wim MacNamee/Getty
The Republican-controlled U.S. Senate has advanced a bipartisan measure intended to limit President Donald Trump's ability to take military action against Iran.

Eight Republicans sided with Democrats on a motion to proceed to a final vote on the matter as soon as February 13. The February 12 vote on the procedural motion was 51-45.

The nonbinding resolution would direct Trump to remove U.S. troops engaged in hostilities against Iran unless Congress declares war or passes a specific authorization for the use of military force.
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Health

Pepe Escobar: It's time to reclaim Syria's road to recovery

Pepe Escobar
Asia Times
Thu, 13 Feb 2020 20:57 UTC
syria
© iStockErdogan de facto supports al-Qaeda remnants while facing either humiliating retreat from or total war against Syria
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, neo-Ottoman extraordinaire, is not exactly inclined to commit seppuku, the Japanese act of ritual suicide.

But if not through the perspective of neo-Ottomanism, how to explain the fact he is de facto supporting al-Qaeda remnants in Syria while facing two unsavory options - a humiliating retreat from or total war against the Syrian Arab Army?

Everything about the slowly evolving, messy chessboard in Idlib hinges on highways: the imperative for the government in Damascus to control both the M5 highway between Damascus and Aleppo and the M4 highway between Latakia and Aleppo. Fully reclaiming these two crucial axes will finally turbo-charge the ailing Syrian economy.

Very few players nowadays remember the all-important Sochi memorandum of understanding signed between Russia and Turkey in September 2018.

Comment: See also:

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Arrow Down

Troy Price, head of Iowa Democratic Party, resigns after caucus results debacle

Brianne Pfannenstiel
USA Today
Wed, 12 Feb 2020 20:43 UTC
troy price iowa caucus democrat
© Associated PressTroy Price, chair of Iowa’s Democratic Party stepped down after overseeing a disastrous presidential caucus event
The chairman of the Iowa Democratic Party resigned his position on Wednesday as the organization grapples with the fallout of a botched caucus process that has left the party and state reeling.

"While it is my desire to stay in this role and see this process through to completion, I do believe it is time for the Iowa Democratic Party to begin looking forward, and my presence in my current role makes that more difficult. Therefore, I will resign as chair of the Iowa Democratic Party effective upon the election of my replacement," Troy Price said in a letter to the Iowa Democratic Party's State Central Committee.

Price, an Iowa native, worked as political director for Barack Obama's 2012 Iowa campaign and Hillary Clinton's 2016 Iowa campaign. He served as executive director of the Iowa Democratic Party before being elected its chair in July 2017 and reelected in 2018.

Comment: Unfortunately, Price is having to take the fall for a planned disaster. The voting app, a brainchild of Killary operatives, performed as desired, boosting robo-candidate Buttigieg just enough over the hated Bernie Sanders, while (hopefully) not appearing to rig the process.

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War Whore

US-led coalition admits killing at least 1,370 civilians in Syria, Iraq - casualty report


Sputnik
Thu, 13 Feb 2020 18:43 UTC
iraqi soldier
© AP Photo / Hadi Mizban
The US-led coalition in Iraq and Syria has killed at least 1,370 civilians since the start of its military operations in 2014, Combined Joint Task Force - Operation Inherent Resolve said in its monthly civilian casualty report on Thursday.
"The Coalition conducted 34,763 strikes between August 2014 and the end of December 2019. During this period, based on information available, CJTF-OIR assesses at least 1,370 civilians have been unintentionally killed by Coalition actions since the beginning of Operation Inherent Resolve," the report said.
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Chess

Where does Turkey stand in the Syrian Endgame?

Salman Rafi Sheikh
New Eastern Outlook
Thu, 13 Feb 2020 18:05 UTC
Erdogan
Whereas the mainstream western and Arab media have been claiming a 'serious rift' between Russia and Turkey over the death of Turkish soldiers in a Syrian offensive in Idlib, this is far from the case. While there is no gainsaying that Russian and Syrian interests do not always converge fully and that there are some contentious areas, this then is also quite equally true of Turkey's relations with the US/NATO as well.

Therefore, expecting Turkey to take a full wheel U-turn to the US/NATO as a result of the so-called 'serious rift' with Moscow/Damascus is not only an extremely unlikely event to happen but also geo-politically an unrealistic assumption; for, the major disagreement, as it stands, does not exit between Russia and Turkey per se, it exists, if at all, between an increasingly assertive Syrian army, ambitiously advancing to regain control of their country, and a Turkish a resolve to prevent the emergence of a 'Kurdistan' along its border with Syria.
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Light Sabers

Turkey enraged as Syrian parliament recognizes Armenian genocide amid bilateral tensions


Sputnik
Thu, 13 Feb 2020 18:39 UTC
syrian parliament
© AP Photo / SANA
The overwhelmingly symbolic move comes in the wake of a serious deteriorated situation in northwestern Syria, where Turkish and Syrian troops have been trading fire in the rebel-held province of Idlib.

The People's Council of Syria, the nation's unicameral parliament, has backed a resolution condemning the mass killings of Armenians by the Ottoman Turks during WWI as genocide.

Lawmakers have passed the motion unanimously, Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reports.

They expressed sympathy for the Armenian people and recognised what they called the "systematic ethnic cleansing and massacre" of Armenians, Syrians and Assyrians by the Ottoman Empire, calling on the international community to condemn it as well.
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Bad Guys

IRGC commander claims 'Iran now has access to all codes of US MQ4 drone'

Drago Bosnic
Fort Russ
Thu, 13 Feb 2020 18:25 UTC
US drone Iran
Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Aerospace Force Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh warned the US not to use its MQ4 Triton drones against Iran as the IRGC now enjoys full familiarity with the codes and frequencies of that particular kind of drone.
"Americans should draw a redline for using this drone against Iran because we are now familiar with all its codes and frequencies; meaning that we can deactivate it not from a 100km distance, but from thousands of kilometers, away from Tehran," General Hajizadeh said last Thursday night on the sidelines of unveiling the new retrieved parts of the MQ4 Triton which was downed by the IRGC back in June 2019.

"We have the biggest collection of drones in the world. We lacked Triton, that was added to the collection. And we will certainly target any other drone that would violate Iran's territory," the IRGC Aerospace Force commander added.

He noted that the MQ4 drone is invaluable, and said, "Each device that you see here is a treasure for us as they provide valuable information and we will use this information."

Comment:

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Chess

UN Security Council adopts resolution affirming lasting ceasefire in Libya, Russia abstains


Sputnik
Wed, 12 Feb 2020 18:37 UTC
libyan flag
© AP Photo / Mohammad Hannon
The UN Security Council adopted a resolution on Libya cementing the conclusions of the recent Berlin conference on Libyan reconciliation and the need for a lasting ceasefire in the country.

A total of 14 member states supported the draft on Wednesday, while Russia abstained from voting.

According to a diplomatic source, Russia was opposed to the mentioning of the term "mercenaries" in the resolution. The final version of the draft, seen by Sputnik, expresses concern over the growing involvement of professional foreign soldiers in Libya.
The resolution endorses the Berlin conference's final communiqué and affirms the need for an immediate and lasting ceasefire in Libya at the earliest opportunity without preconditions.
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