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Radar

Russian Navy tracks NATO squadron as it enters the Black Sea


RT
Fri, 29 Mar 2019 09:09 UTC
Dutch frigate/Russian patrol
© (L) Boudewijn Boots/Twitter; (R) VitalyTimkiv/SputnikDutch frigate HNLMS Evertsen • Russian patrol ship Vasily Bykov
Russian ships are keeping a close eye on NATO, whose three frigates recently crossed into the Black Sea, preparing to sail near Crimea and conduct a joint naval drill with Ukraine and Georgia.

The large patrol ship Vasily Bykov, along with surveillance ship Ivan Khurs, both of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, are closely tracking the movement of NATO vessels in the area, the Defense Ministry said.

The photos and videos from Turkey had earlier showed three NATO frigates passing through the Bosporus Strait and entering the Black Sea on Thursday. The ships - Canadian HMCS Toronto, Spain's Santa Maria, and Dutch HNLMS Evertsen - are set to visit the Ukrainian port of Odessa, near Russia's Crimea. They are later scheduled to participate in the Sea Shield 19 naval drill, together with ships from Ukraine and Georgia.

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Cheeseburger

SOTT Focus: 'Russiagate' Hoax Has Turned Ordinary Russians Against The US

Bryan MacDonald
RT
Thu, 28 Mar 2019 15:51 UTC
TrumpBurger
© REUTERS/Ilya NaymushinCustomers visit Trump Burger, the second burger joint recently opened by a new Russian diner named after U.S. President Donald Trump, in Krasnoyarsk, Russia.
'Russiagate' is over. But its toxic legacy will endure. And in Russia it has led to disenchantment with the United States.

Red Army Street is a 3km-long thoroughfare in Krasnodar, southern Russian, notable for its many bars and nightclubs, which number in the dozens. Indeed, it's so raucous it makes snooty Moscow look rather pedestrian.

Last summer, I was in one hostelry, with a South African farmer who was visiting the region. Naturally, we spoke in English. This seemed to upset three drunken locals who (in Russian) were loudly exchanging anti-American slurs. Eventually, the largest, and scariest, of the trio broke into English to shout "Yankee, go home." To which I swiftly replied that I was Irish. Suddenly, he ran over, bear-hugged me, and shouted at the top of his voice: "Conor McGregor!"

It wasn't always like this. When I moved to Russia, nine years ago, Americans were very popular here. And Russians knew little of my homeland, most wrongly seeing it as an extension of the United Kingdom.
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Nuke

US won't rule out nuclear first strike, claims allies wouldn't trust it otherwise


RT
Fri, 29 Mar 2019 02:36 UTC
5 B-1B Lancer bombers
© Reuters/US Air Force/Staff Sgt. Steve ThurowB-1B Lancer bombers capable of carrying nuclear weapons
A Pentagon official has said that the US will retain the right to carry out a nuclear strike in response to a conventional attack. A 'no-first-use' policy would erode US allies' belief that they are protected, he said.

Washington has no plans to reverse its policy of "no first use" of nukes, which means it can bomb its adversaries with nuclear weapons under "extreme circumstances," Deputy Undersecretary of Defense David Trachtenberg said in his prepared remarks to the Senate Armed Service Committee hearing on Thursday.

Trachtenberg claimed that if the US changes its take on the issue, which he described as "constructive ambiguity," it "would undermine US extended deterrence and damage the health of our alliances because it would call into question the assurance that the United States would come to the defense of allies in extreme circumstances." This uncertainty might prompt these countries to arm themselves with nuclear weapons, he said.

The hawkish Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) commissioned by President Donald Trump in 2018 lists a range of circumstances under which the US might consider striking first, such as significant strategic attacks on the US, allied or partner civilian infrastructure, forces, their command and control, as well as warning and assessment capabilities with conventional weapons.
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Stop

US senators propose bill to halt transfer of F-35 jets to Turkey unless it reneges on S-400 deal


RT
Fri, 29 Mar 2019 23:34 UTC
F-35B fighter jet
© Peter Nicholls/ReutersLockheed Martin F-35B fighter jet
US senators have proposed a bipartisan bill to make good on Washington's blackmail of Turkey - by halting the transfer of 100 agreed-upon F-35 jets until Ankara tears up the deal with Moscow to buy S-400 air defense complexes.

The bill on limiting the transfer of F-35 stealth fighter jets to Turkey was introduced by Republican Senator James Lankford, and co-sponsored by Republican Thom Tillis and Democratic Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Chris Van Hollen on Thursday.

The draft of the bill states that:
"no funds may be obligated or expended" to transfer the batch of the F-35 aircraft to Turkey or intellectual property and technical data related to its operation and maintenance until a written certification is provided to Congress that Turkey "does not plan or intend" to go ahead with the delivery of the cutting-edge Russian S-400 surface-to-air missiles.
The lawmakers claim the purchase of the Russian-made weapons by Turkey would "endanger the integrity" of NATO and "result in a significant impact to defense cooperation" between Washington and Ankara. The military cooperation between Turkey and Russia deals a blow to the US own security, Shaheen argued.

Comment: See also:

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Eiffel Tower

French President Macron's inner circle collapsing: Three ministers quit in one day

Romina McGuinness
The Express
Thu, 28 Mar 2019 19:05 UTC
macron
© Stephane Cardinale - Corbis/Corbis via Getty ImagesFrench President Emmanuel Macron
Macron's government has been rocked by three resignations, the French presidency said, joining a wave of departures from the Elysée Palace as the young president scrambles to repair his image, tainted by a string of political missteps and the yellow vest revolt.

A string of high profile resignations over the past eight months have challenged the French centrist's authority, already undermined by claims his leadership style is aloof and autocratic. The departures bring to 10 the number of ministers to have left Mr Macron's all-stripes cabinet since he took power in May 2017. Government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux and Digital Minister Mounir Mahjoubi are reportedly leaving their posts to launch rival bids for the 2020 Paris mayorship.

The presidency also confirmed the resignation of European Affairs Minister Nathalie Loiseau, who is to lead Mr Macron's centrist La République en Marche (LREM) party's campaign for European parliamentary elections in May.

Mr Macron's office announced the departures in an emailed statement without naming their possible successors. They are expected to be announced upon Mr Macron's return from Qatar on Friday or on Monday, the date of the next cabinet meeting.

Comment: Things are not looking good for Mr. Macron. What will the elites do if one of their European puppets is actually forced out of office

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War Whore

Hypocritical Pentagon warns India against 'messy' tests in space, despite doing similar one in 2008


RT
Fri, 29 Mar 2019 18:09 UTC
missile test
© US Navy / Wikinews (L); Government of India / PIB India / Twitter (R)
India risks creating dangerous debris while blasting missiles into space, the Pentagon said, despite having conducted a very similar test in the past and producing thousands of pieces of space junk orbiting the Earth.

New Delhi successfully conducted an anti-satellite missile test this week. In Washington, acting Pentagon chief Patrick Shanahan admonished India for littering in orbit.

"My message would be: We all live in space, let's not make it a mess," he told reporters, adding that the US is still studying the effects of India's missile on the environment. The military earlier noted that it is currently tracking around 270 objects left from the destroyed satellite.

Shanahan's concerns were met with reassurances from India. G. Satheesh Reddy, who leads the nation's Defense Research and Development Organization, said that all the debris will burn up in about 45 days.
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Star of David

Israeli Air Force used US-made bombs in latest Aleppo attack


Southfront
Fri, 29 Mar 2019 17:54 UTC
GBU-39 Small Diameter Bombs
The Israeli Air Force (IAF) used US-Made GBU-39 Small Diameter Bombs (SDBs) in its recent attack on the Syrian city of Aleppo, a photo released by pro-government activists on March 28 reveals.

The photo shows the remains of one of the munitions which were used in the attack, that occurred in the late hours of March 27. The remains appear to be identical to the wings of the GBU-39 bomb.

The GBU-39, that was first introduced by Boeing in 2006, is a precision-guided glide bomb with a range of 110km. The bomb uses an inertial navigation system (INS) and GPS to hit static targets with high accuracy. The light weight of the bomb [only 129kg] allows most warplanes to carry a pack of four on each hard point.

In April of last year, the IAF used the GBU-39 SDB to strike targets in the outskirt of the city of Aleppo. The bomb is apparently being used to strike targets deep inside Syria due to its small diameter, which makes it harder to detect by Syrian radars.

Despite its small diameter and long range, several SDBs were successfully intercepted by the Syrian Arab Air Defense Forces (SyAADF), according to pro-government sources.
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Bad Guys

Mueller punts - lets AG Barr make obstruction call


National Review
Fri, 29 Mar 2019 17:39 UTC
Robert Mueller
© Christopher Morris/VII/ReduxSpecial Council Robert Mueller
What a waste.

The most telling revelation in Attorney General William Barr's letter about Special Counsel Robert Mueller's much-anticipated final report is that Mueller has punted on the main question he pursued for nearly two years of investigation: Did President Trump commit an obstruction offense?

The Barr letter gingerly states that, after making a "thorough factual investigation" into alleged instances of obstruction, Mueller "ultimately determined not to make a traditional prosecutorial judgment." Since making a prosecutorial judgment was Mueller's job, that means he defaulted. What did we need him for?

Not only that, but Mueller determined that it would be better for the attorney general to make the prosecutorial judgment. So, for the millionth time, what the hell did we need a special counsel for? If the Justice Department, in Mueller's judgment, was perfectly well-suited to make the call, how could there possibly have been a conflict so profound that it was necessary to bring in a special counsel in the first place? A special counsel, mind you, who recruited his staff from the Justice Department, transferred the cases he brought to Justice Department components, and, now, has ultimately delegated his decision-making responsibility to the Justice Department.
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Bullseye

Best of the Web: Tucker Carlson: CNN is really a super PAC, colluding with the Democratic Party on the news you hear

Tucker Carlson
Fox News
Thu, 28 Mar 2019 17:48 UTC
We want to tell you a story about collusion, a real one -- an actual collusion that's currently in progress.

There are no shadowy hackers or imaginary rendezvous in Prague. In this story, there's not a single Russian spy or secret sex tape. There's nothing shadowy about the collusion we're going to tell you about. It takes place right out in the open on live television. This is a story about where your news comes from.

This past Sunday afternoon, we learned that the Trump campaign did not collude with the government of Russia. That was the conclusion of Robert Mueller's investigation, an investigation that spent two years exhaustively looking into the question. This was very good news for America -- we don't have a spy in the White House. But it was apocalyptic for the Democratic Party and their press agents in the news media.

These are the people who would stake their reputations and their fortunes on the collusion hoax -- and they were stunned. Befuddled politicians stammered on television, trying to figure out what to say about the news. Viewers of liberal media outlets didn't want to hear anything about it. Huge numbers of them just quit watching immediately. On Tuesday night, CNN's 8 p.m. show lost nearly 50 percent of its viewers.
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Russian Flag

Russian Central Bank: Ruble proves most stable currency among developing nations


RT
Fri, 29 Mar 2019 17:31 UTC
rubles
© Global Look Press / Nikolay Gyngazov
The Russian currency has proven itself to be the most stable of all developing countries during recent volatility, according to the deputy head of the Central Bank of Russia.

"There was quite a strong movement in the developing countries' markets yesterday, the ruble was in fact one of the least affected," Bank of Russia First Deputy Governor Ksenia Yudaeva said on Thursday, as quoted by TASS. "However, the Russian market demonstrates the greatest calm compared to all others," she added.

The official noted that events in Turkey may have affected investors, referring to the country's recent currency volatility. The Turkish lira experienced another fall this week and the country's main index of leading company shares, the Borsa Istanbul 100, dropped more than five percent.
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