Puppet MastersS


Rocket

Erdogan: S-400 will be operational by April 2020


Times of Israel
Fri, 26 Jul 2019 17:42 UTC
turkish s-400
© Turkish Defense Ministry via AP, PoolMilitary vehicles and equipment, parts of the S-400 air defense systems, are unloaded from a Russian transport aircraft at Murted military airport in Ankara, Turkey, July 12, 2019.
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday that it planned to start using the Russian S-400 missile defense system — a bone of contention with the United States — in April 2020.

"In the coming spring, God willing in April 2020, we will be able to start using this system," he told a gathering of his Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Ankara.

Washington has reacted to Turkey's purchase of the S-400, which was delivered this month, by kicking the country off its F-35 fighter jet program.

The US says Russia will be able to glean sensitive technical knowledge about the new fighter if it is operated alongside the S-400.

"You won't give the F-35? Very well, excuse me, but we will take measures in this regard and will turn toward others," Erdogan said.

"No threats or sanctions against Turkey, especially threats to remove (Turkey) from the F-35 project, will prevent Turkey from ensuring its security priorities.

"I hope the US will act with good sense regarding the S-400," he added.

Comment: Pompeo's impotent response: "There could be more sanctions to follow but frankly what we'd really like is for the S-400 not to become operational." Not helping, Pompeo - you're just pushing Turkey further away with your arrogant bullying:
"Even if we're not getting F-35s, we are buying 100 advanced Boeing aircraft, the agreement is signed... At the moment, one of the Boeing planes has arrived and we are making the payments, we are good customers," Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in Ankara on Friday, adding that "if things go on like that, we will have to rethink this matter."


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Star of David

UN condemnation of Sur Bahir demolitions blocked by US - envoy Greenblatt voices contempt for international law

Yumna Patel
Mondoweiss
Thu, 25 Jul 2019 17:19 UTC
Jason Greenblatt
Jason Greenblatt addresses the UN in May 2019 about the US peace plan.
The US blocked on Wednesday an attempt by United Nations member states to get the UN Security Council (UNSC) to formally condemn Israel's demolition of Palestinian homes in the occupied East Jeruslaem town of Sur Bahir earlier this week.

Prior to Israel's demolition of the 10 buildings, most of which were in PA-controlled areas of the town, UN officials had joined the chorus of international leaders and rights groups calling on Israel to halt its plans.

Despite the repeated calls to stand down, Israel demolished the 10 buildings, displacing dozens of Palestinians, in what rights groups have said amounts to forcible transfer of civilian populations in an occupied territory, defined under international law as a war crime.
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Green Light

Saudis plan to redirect oil from Strait of Hormuz to expanded pipeline


Sputnik
Fri, 26 Jul 2019 17:39 UTC
aramco refinery
© REUTERS / Ahmed Jadallah
The situation in the region has been strained following a series of incidents involving Iran, the US, and UK, leading to transit through the Strait of Hormuz being considered unsafe. Several countries have already called for safety of navigation to be ensured through the vital oil shipping lane.

Saudi Arabia is planning to boost the output capacity by 40% of a pipeline belonging to state oil company Saudi Aramco that runs from the country's east to the Red Sea coast in the west by 2021, Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih told Reuters. The move comes in response to the situation in the Strait of Hormuz, with Saudi Arabia aiming to reroute some of its oil exports from the waterway to the port of Yanbu on the shore of the Red Sea.

The pipeline's current capacity is five million barrels per day, but the country plans to increase it to seven million. The minister believes the expansion will take around two years, but an anonymous source in the industry told Bloomberg that it could be completed as early as September 2019. But even without an expansion, the pipeline is working below its maximum capacity, leaving Saudi Aramco with space to manoeuvre.
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NPC

Best of the Web: The Russians hacked our pizza! DHS warns of efforts to divide Americans over pineapple on pizza

Mike Levine
ABC News
Fri, 19 Jul 2019 17:25 UTC
dhs pizza
Department of Homeland Security issues a warning using pineapple pizza.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is warning that Russian agents could seek to further divide Americans by exploiting U.S. passions over whether pineapple belongs on pizza.

It's a cheesy, playful warning -- but it's trying to deliver a serious message. Posted online Wednesday by the department's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the tongue-in-cheek warning aims to help Americans identify and protect against propaganda campaigns from Russia and other foreign adversaries.

After all, the DHS warning says, Russian agents are capable of simultaneously insisting online that "Being anti-pineapple is un-American!" while also pushing out posts saying "Millennials are ruining pizza!"

"Foreign influencers are constantly on the lookout for opportunities to inflame hot button issues in the United States," the new DHS warning says. "They don't do this to win arguments; they want to see us divided."
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Family

South Africa calls for expanded collaboration with Russia - Rio meeting demonstrates multipolarity in action

Paul Antonopoulos
Fort Russ News
Fri, 26 Jul 2019 17:03 UTC
Brics meeting brazil
© Agence France-Presse(L to R) The BRICS foreign ministers -- Russia's Sergey Lavrov, China's Wang Yi, Brazil's Ernesto Araujo and South Africa's Grace Naledi Mandisa Pandor, along with Indian Transport Minister Vijay Kumar Singh, pose for a picture in Rio de Janeiro
South Africa hopes to continue to increase its cooperation with Russia, the country's foreign minister Naledi Pandor said.

"South Africa places a high value on strategic cooperation with the Russian Federation. The role we play in terms of bilateral but also global cooperation is extremely important. We are extremely pleased with our colleagues to have the opportunity to continue expanding our collaboration," Pandor said during his meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday.

Lavrov and Pandor met before the BRICS ministerial meeting, scheduled for today, in Brazil.

Comment: Step by slow step, the multi-polar world is constructing itself. When will the West wake up to its growing irrelevancy?

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Chess

Trump 'very disappointed' Sweden won't embrace American exceptionalism & release US rapper

Helen Buyniski
RT
Fri, 26 Jul 2019 16:41 UTC
free asap rocky
© Reuters / Staff
In the spirit of American exceptionalism, Donald Trump thinks nothing of demanding Sweden spring rapper A$AP Rocky from jail, ignoring the country's own legal system, while holding the rest of the world accountable to US laws.

Trump has continued his charm offensive to get rapper A$AP Rocky (real name Rakim Mayers) sprung from the Swedish jail where he's been held for weeks on charges of aggravated assault, insisting he will "personally vouch" for the rapper's bail - never mind that Sweden doesn't have a bail system.

Swedish PM Stefan Löfven has explained to Trump that the government "cannot and will not attempt to influence the legal proceedings," but something was apparently lost in translation, because Trump continues to plead with the Swedes for an intervention. Even though there is nothing Löfven could have done to stop the court from charging the rapper with aggravated assault this week, short of tearing up his country's constitution to please the Americans.
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Question

Russia declares Atlantic Council think tank an 'undesirable' organization - what exactly is it?


RT
Fri, 26 Jul 2019 16:35 UTC
Atlantic Council
© Atlantic Council
The controversial pro-NATO Atlantic Council think tank has been added to a list of "undesirable" organizations and forbidden from operating within Russia.

Russia's Prosecutor General said on Thursday that it had decided to recognize the activities of the Atlantic Council (AC) as those of a "foreign non-governmental organization" and as "undesirable" within the country.

"It has been established that the activities of this organization pose a threat to the fundamentals of the constitutional system and the security of the Russian Federation," a statement said.
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Bullseye

5 signs US and Iran are not going to war anytime soon

Darius Shahtahmasebi
RT
Fri, 26 Jul 2019 16:24 UTC
Azadi Tower
© Getty Images / David StanleyAzadi Tower in Iran
There have been many frightening developments over the last few weeks which have signalled that the US - and some of its closest allies such as the UK - are launching full throttle towards a war with Iran.

Even if war was not the immediate intention of the parties involved, it doesn't take a genius to see that a miscalculated move committed by either side could heavily escalate into an all-out conflict, and igniting a powder keg.

However, while these developments have unfolded, and since no such strike has taken place as yet, it is worth examining the signs currently overlooked by most mainstream media outlets in their typical assessments. Specifically, the numerous signs which actually suggest that perhaps a genuine war between Iran and the United States is currently unlikely, despite recent escalations.
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Light Sabers

Peace in Ukraine? The friends and foes of a Kiev-Moscow settlement

Stephen F. Cohen
The Nation
Wed, 24 Jul 2019 16:19 UTC
Ukrainian self-defence battalion
© REUTERS/Valentyn OgirenkoA member of Ukrainian self-defence battalion "Donbass"
Ukraine, as I have often emphasized, is the epicenter of the new US-Russian Cold War, and its location directly on Russia's border makes it much more dangerous than was Berlin during the preceding 40-year confrontation.

Some 13,000 people have reportedly already died in Donbass in fighting between forces backed by Washington and Moscow. For many on both sides of the border, the war is a personal tragedy due also to the at least tens of millions of inter-married Ukrainian-Russian families. (The names of some of them will be familiar to readers, such as Khrushchev and Gorbachev.)

The election of Ukraine's new president, Volodymyr Zelensky, who won decisively throughout most of the country, represents the possibility of peace with Russia, if it — and he — are given a chance. His electorally repudiated predecessor, Petro Poroshenko, backed by supporters in Washington, thwarted almost every preceding opportunity for negotiations both with the Donbass rebels and with Moscow, notably provisions associated with the European-sponsored Minsk Accords. Zelensky, on the other hand, has made peace (along with corruption) his top priority and indeed spoke directly with Russian President Vladimir Putin, on July 11. The nearly six-year war having become a political, diplomatic, and financial drain on his leadership, Putin welcomed the overture.
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Bad Guys

Austria searching for 'Russian spy' who worked for GRU military intelligence


RT
Fri, 26 Jul 2019 16:16 UTC
Igor Zaytsev
© Austrian Interior Ministry; Reuters / Herwig Prammer
An international arrest warrant has been issued for an alleged "Russian spy" who is suspected of having undertaken secret activities for Russia's GRU military intelligence agency in Austria.

Austria's interior ministry posted details online about the search, saying that Igor Egorovich Zaytsev is suspected of having "secretly" worked for GRU. Zaytsev's actions, the notice says, were "to the detriment of the Republic of Austria."

The 65-year-old Russian was born in Moscow and is wanted for "betrayal of state secrets," and "intentional disclosure of a military secret."
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