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WADA officers launch planned inspection of Russian anti-doping agency


RT
Tue, 11 Dec 2018 19:50 UTC
Russian anti-doping agency
© Sputnik / Evgeni OdinokovRussian anti-doping agency
World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) officers have arrived in Moscow to conduct a planned audit of the Russian anti-doping body, which was reinstated in September following a three-year suspension.

The anti-doping officials are expected to spend several days in Russia before making a detailed report on RUSADA's progress, including imperfections which should be corrected by the Russian authorities.
"WADA auditors visit is being held in full compliance with RUSADA road map," RUSADA Deputy Chief Margarita Pakhnotskaya was quoted as saying by TASS.

"They have already started working (in Moscow). During four months after RUSADA's reinstatement WADA should conduct detailed inspection of all departments. The auditors will not give any assessments right after the check, they will just compile a report on the work they will do."
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Quenelle - Golden

Obsession with penetrating everything: US Air Force conducts drill simulating 'forcible backdoor entry'


RT
Tue, 11 Dec 2018 19:30 UTC
paratroopers
© Reuters / Tami ChappellFILE PHOTO
A "conga line" of over 10 transport aircraft startled aviation fans during the US military's annual "Joint Forcible Entry Exercise" in the skies of Nevada.


Comment: Sounds 'sexy' (if that's your kind of thing).


Noticing the large line of C-130 Hercules and C-17 Globemaster III aircraft carriers prepared for take off at the Dyess Air Force base in Texas early Sunday morning, some aviation fans on Twitter became understandably worried.

Comment: Of course. Why would the US military even bother conducting drills to defend the US from invasion - it hasn't been invaded since 1812.

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Bad Guys

Thierry Meyssan: Who owns Macron?

Thierry Meyssan
Voltaire.org
Tue, 11 Dec 2018 17:04 UTC
macron
© InconnuLe président Macron
President Macron is often presented as a Rothschild Boy. This is true, but secondary. Thierry Meyssan demonstrates that he owes his electoral campaign mostly to Henry Kravis, the boss of one of the world's largest financial companies, and to NATO - a considerable debt which weighs heavily today on the solution to the Yellow Vests crisis.

Emmanuel Macron did not feel destined for a career in politics. As a young man, he hoped to become a philosopher, then a senior civil servant, then a business banker. To help him on his way, he frequented Uncle Sam's fairy godmothers - the French-American Foundation and the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

It was in this milieu that he met Henry and Marie-Josée Kravis, in their residence on Park Avenue in New York [1]. The Kravis couple, unfailing supporters of the US Republican Party, are among the great world fortunes who play politics out of sight of the Press. Their company, KKR, like Blackstone and the Carlyle Group, is one of the world's major investment funds.

Comment: See also: And check out SOTT radio's: NewsReal: Révolution Jaune? France Revolts Against Macron

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Jet5

Russian Tu-160 strategic bombers arrive in Venezuela after 10,000km transatlantic flight, Pompeo throws a hissy fit


RT
Tue, 11 Dec 2018 02:15 UTC
Russian Tu-160 strategic bombers land in Venezuela
Venezuela has welcomed the arrival of Russian Tu-160 strategic bombers as an opportunity to demonstrate its resolve to defend the nation against possible foreign military intervention, with the help of "friends" if need be.

Two Tu-160 strategic bombers made a gracious landing at Simón Bolívar International Airport on Monday where they were greeted by the honor guard of the Venezuelan air force. Wearing orange pilot suits and combat helmets, Russian servicemen descended onto the runway where they were eager to present their colleagues with a scaled model of the 'White Swan' bomber, which they had just flown over 10,000 kilometers to reach the Caribbean shores in order to take part in "combined operational flights" with the Venezuelan Air Force.
We are getting prepared to defend Venezuela when it is needed.
And Venezuela "will do it with our friends who advocate respect-based relations between states," Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez said after the two bombers, together with An-124 transport and an Il-62 plane, landed in Venezuela.


Comment: No doubt this strengthening of Venezuelan defenses has thrown much of Washington's regime-changers into the throes of anger; Maduro's government will now be that much more difficult to topple - and all because of a Russian-Venezuelan alliance no less!

Of course the hegemonic clique can't say this, so they have to lash out by pretending to take the moral high ground in laughably hypocritical fashion. From RT:
A tweet posted by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo condemning the landing of two Russian bombers in Venezuela as a "squandering" of public money, has quickly backfired, with many eager to point out some glaring hypocrisies.

Russia sent the two Tu-160 strategic bombers on the 10,000km trip to land at Simón Bolívar International Airport on Monday in a show of support for the government of President Nicolas Maduro, which has repeatedly expressed concerns that the US is trying to topple it.


Maduro on Sunday warned of an effort "directly coordinated from the White House to disturb democratic life in Venezuela" and a possible "coup" against the government.

Pompeo eagerly denounced Russia for sending the bombers "halfway around the world," writing that it amounted to "two corrupt governments squandering public funds, and squelching liberty and freedom while their people suffer."

But the responses to the tweet were probably not quite what Pompeo anticipated, with many noting that the US has been known to send its own bombers around the world without much consideration for national boundaries and international law.





Others pointed out that the US not only sends its own bombers wherever it wants but actually has hundreds of bases for them all over the world.


Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov had a few choice words for Pompeo as well:
Mike Pompeo is in no position to claim that sending two strategic bombers to Venezuela was a "squandering" of public funds, Moscow countered, saying half of the US military budget is enough "to support all of Africa."

The US Secretary of State produced a lengthy tirade on Twitter on Tuesday, claiming the arrival of two Russian Tu-160 bombers was an example of "two corrupt governments squandering public funds, and squelching liberty and freedom while their people suffer." Later in the day, the remark was met with a sharp rebuke from the Kremlin.

"This is indeed very undiplomatic," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists, adding, "we think it was an utterly inappropriate comment." US President Donald Trump might "give his own assessment" of Pompeo's statement as he did in the past, he said.

Saying that, Peskov made a veiled reference to President Trump's inflammatory tweet in which he accused Rex Tillerson, Pompeo's predecessor, of lacking the "mental capacity" to do his job. "He was dumb as a rock and I couldn't get rid of him fast enough. He was lazy as hell," Trump tweeted.

"As far as the 'squandering' is concerned, we don't agree with that," Peskov stated, noting that half of the bulky US military budget "would be enough to support all of Africa."

[...]

That aside, it has recently emerged that Donald Trump has committed to a $750bn military budget, despite earlier labeling the $716bn previously allocated for defense 'crazy'.

Above all, the mammoth US military budget has long been the largest in the world. According to the reputed Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), it dwarfs the defense expenditure of Russia, China, India, the UK, France, and Germany combined.
Watch a good summation of the whole story:


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Gold Coins

Gold on the rise: Russia boosts year-on-year output by 3%


RT
Tue, 11 Dec 2018 17:32 UTC
gold
© Sputnik / Pavel Lisitsyn
Russia's gold production increased by three percent from January through September against the same period a year ago, according to the Gold Industrialists' Union.

Gold output reached 243,000 kilograms, the data from the Moscow-based group showed. The significant boost was reportedly due to increased volumes of ore processing in several of the country's gold mines, including Olimpiada, the Blagodatnoe gold-sulfide deposit, the Verninskoe and Kuranakh mines, as well as others.

Production of high karat gold saw a two-percent increase, while by-product gold output was reduced by 13 percent. Scrap gold production declined by four percent. Output of the precious metal from derived products saw an enormous increase of 57 percent.
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Vader

Latest satellite images shows hundreds of Russian tanks amassing on Ukraine border in answer to Ukraine (NATO) saber-rattling

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Tue, 11 Dec 2018 17:05 UTC
Russian tanks Ukraine border
© Tyler DurdenSatellite imagery from Google Earth taken on November shows hundreds of Russian main battle tanks at a new military base on the outskirts of the Kamensk-Shakhtinsky.
Ukraine's president has recently warned Russian tanks are amassing along the border between the two countries amid increasing tensions. The comments came late last month after three Ukrainian naval boats were seized in the Kerch Strait by Russia.

President Petro Poroshenko has allegedly shown images of what he claims to be hundreds of tanks preparing for an invasion.

Comment: Poroshenko has aligned himself with Russia's foes, and now complains about the consequences. Any build-up of Russian military within its own border has come as an answer to previous NATO moves. It's an attempt to provoke Russia into the war NATO so badly wants.

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Pirates

War crimes against Syrian heritage: Damascus condemns looting of precious antiquities by US, French and Kurdish troops


Sputnik
Tue, 11 Dec 2018 13:13 UTC
Syrian antiquites looted by US & France
The Syrian Foreign Ministry has condemned what it said were illegal excavation works by US, French, and Turkish troops as well as their local allies in areas of Syria under their control, including ancient sites at Manbij, Afrin, Idlib, Hasaka, and Raqqa.
Syria is home to some of the oldest continuously inhabited settlements in the world, and contains cultural artifacts from numerous ancient empires. Amid the war in Syria archeologists worldwide have looked on in horror as terrorists looted and destroyed priceless artifacts in areas under their control.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry has condemned what it said were illegal excavation works by US, French, and Turkish troops as well as their local allies in areas of Syria under their control, including ancient sites at Manbij, Afrin, Idlib, Hasaka, and Raqqa.

Speaking to the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) on Monday, a ministry official said that there had been an increase in excavation work, looting, and theft of ancient cultural artifacts.

"These actions represent a new war crime added to the crimes committed against the Syrian people and Syrian heritage", the official said. According to Damascus, the looting of Syria's historical treasures is part of a deliberate plot by terrorist organisations and their backers to rob the Syrian people of their past and destroy the country's civilisational and cultural heritage.

Comment: See also:

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Light Sabers

Tit-for-tat? Former Canadian diplomat detained in China following capture of Chinese Huawei exec in Canada

John Ruwitch
Reuters
Tue, 11 Dec 2018 17:07 UTC
michael kovrig
Michael Kovrig
A former Canadian diplomat has been detained in China, two sources said on Tuesday, and his current employer, the International Crisis Group, said it was seeking his prompt and safe release.

Michael Kovrig, an employee with the International Crisis Group and former Canadian diplomat appears in this photo provided by the International Crisis Group in Brussels, Belgium, December 11, 2018.

Michael Kovrig's detention comes after police in Canada arrested the chief financial officer of China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd [HWT.UL] on Dec. 1 at the request of U.S. authorities, a move that has infuriated Beijing.


Comment: At the behest of the US who are also seeking her extradition: Break-in at jailed Chinese tech CFO's house in Canada


It was not immediately clear if the cases were related, but the arrest of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver has stoked fears of reprisals against the foreign business community in China.

"International Crisis Group is aware of reports that its North East Asia Senior Adviser, Michael Kovrig, has been detained in China," the think-tank said in a statement.

Comment: It certainly is strange that China and the US would, at least according to some officials, agree to a truce in the trade war, only for (some in) America to start a diplomatic war. And not just with China: US court documents in 'foreign agent' Butina case suggest deal made

See also: The case of Maria Butina - Cults and quadruple agents in Washington

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Better Earth

The EU and the warning signs of Fascism

Kit Knightly
OffGuardian
Mon, 10 Dec 2018 17:03 UTC
eu military
Things are spiralling out of control in Europe, faster than many predicted. Outside of Brexit, there is strong anti-EU feeling in Hungary, Spain, Italy, Greece and France. The EU is in danger of crumbling, and people afraid of losing power are prone to extreme acts of dictatorial control.

How long before the EU truly becomes the authoritarian force that people from both ends of the political spectrum have always feared?

THE EU DEFENCE FORCE

Earlier this year, the EU voted to "punish" one of its own members, Hungary, for the internal policies of its elected government. To be clear about this - whatever you think of Viktor Orban, he was elected by the people of Hungary. He is their legally recognised democratic leader. Hungary voted for him - in contrast, Hungary did NOT vote for any of the 448 MEPs who supported the motion, posed by Dutch MEP Judith Sargentini, that:
The Hungarian people deserve better...They deserve freedom of speech, non-discrimination, tolerance, justice and equality, all of which are enshrined in the European treaties."
Note that "democracy" is not included on that list. "Tolerance", "justice" and "equality", but not democracy. A Freudian slip, perhaps.
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War Whore

Pentagon accounting 'error': US taxpayer foots fuel bill for Saudi jets pounding Yemen


RT
Tue, 11 Dec 2018 17:02 UTC
fighter jets
© AFP / Fayez Nureldine
Pentagon accounting errors have led to the US taxpayer footing the bill for years of refueling for Saudi jets bombing Yemen. The oversight makes the US' support for Riyadh's air campaign even more intolerable, an analyst told RT.

The Pentagon has acknowledged that the Department of Defense "failed to charge the Saudi-led coalition adequately for fuel and refueling services" as Gulf state warplanes rained bombs on Yemen. The size of the "error" naturally compounded over the more than three years that the US offered its services, resulting in an unpaid invoice that likely totals tens of millions of dollars.

While the US halted its refueling support in mid-November as a result of the growing outcry over Saudi human rights abuses, the Pentagon's glaring accounting screw-up is par for the course, investigative journalist David Lindorff told RT.
Here's this huge amount of money being spent on fueling these Saudi jets bombing Yemen. And it's bad enough they're doing it, but then they're not charging the Saudis - who have endless money.
Lindorff claimed that the Pentagon's bookkeeping is "frequently just being made up," adding that the so-called error was just another one of the department's "accounting gimmicks."

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