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Turkish FM reiterates Russian S-400s sale a 'done deal' - Pence threatens to boot Turkey from NATO


RT
Wed, 03 Apr 2019 20:18 UTC
s-400 f-35
© Reuters / Vitaly Nevar (L) ; Reuters / Amir Cohen (R)S-400s stationed in Russia and a F-35 on maneuvers
Turkey's top diplomat has stood firm on Ankara's commitment to buy the S-400 anti-air system from Russia, just days after the US froze deliveries of F-35 fighters to Ankara as part of its pressure to scupper the deal.

Speaking at a panel discussion organized by the Atlantic Council in Washington, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the S-400 purchase was "a done deal" - confirming President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's statement that the transaction would go ahead. He then blamed Washington for preventing the purchase of the US' Patriot system for a decade, while insisting that Russia's S-400 would not be a security issue.

"[S-400s] will not be integrated into the NATO system," Cavusoglu said, before proposing the creation of a technical group that would ensure that the air-defense system "will not be a threat" to either the F-35 or other NATO systems.

The comments come after NATO-member Turkey failed to adhere to a deadline set down by Washington to cancel the S-400 deal. By way of admonishment, the Pentagon said on Monday that it had "suspended deliveries and activities associated" with Turkey's F-35 program until "they forgo delivery of the S-400."

"Should Turkey procure the S-400, their continued participation in the F-35 program is at risk," the statement warned.

Comment: It's not just the overpriced, under-performing F-35 deal that's under threat; it's Turkey's very membership in NATO, according to VP Pence:


This is highly instructive from Pence. It exposes NATO for what it has actually been all along: a 'captive market' for the US military-industrial complex.

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Arrow Down

PM May will further delay Brexit to agree deal with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn


RT
Tue, 02 Apr 2019 17:10 UTC
Brexit caricature
© Reuters / Thilo SchmuelgenFILE PHOTO: Brexit caricature being prepared for 2018 Rose Monday parade in Cologne
British Prime Minister Theresa May has said she will try to avoid a no-deal Brexit by meeting with opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn and requesting a 'further extension' from the EU.

Speaking at Number 10 on Tuesday, May said the extension would be "as short as possible" and would come to an end when a deal was made.

May said she understood that people were fed up and wanted to leave the EU without a deal, but said she supported reaching a deal and offered to sit down with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to come up with a workable plan.

Comment: More from RT reports:
Corbyn says he's 'very happy' to meet May to hammer out Brexit plan, others not so sure

UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has said he would be "very happy" to meet Prime Minister Theresa May after she suggested the two should sit down to agree on a new plan to ensure a no-deal Brexit is avoided.

Commenting shortly after May gave a speech at 10 Downing Street about the way forward for Brexit, Corbyn said he recognized that the PM had "made a move" and that he would meet with her.


"I recognise my responsibility to represent the people that supported Labour in the last election and the people who didn't support Labour but nevertheless want certainty and security for their own future - and that's the basis on which we will meet her and we will have those discussions," Corbyn said.

It wasn't all friendly gestures, however. Corbyn also said that Labour "reserved the right" to bring a motion of no-confidence in May's government if it proves it is "incapable of commanding a majority in the House of Commons" - but "time will tell" on that front, he said.

The response to May's speech has sparked some angry reaction in her own Conservative Party, with hardline Brexiteer MP Jacob Rees-Mogg lashing out at her plan to delay Brexit for a second time in order to work with Labour. Rees-Mogg said May's move was "deeply unsatisfactory" and "not in the interests of the country."

"You do find that leaders who decide to go with the opposition rather than their own party find that their party do not tamely follow," he added.


Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was also unenthusiastic about May's latest plan and her promise to make the Brexit delay time "as short as possible." Sturgeon said this was a "potential trap" and that the sensible way forward would be for Britain to take part in upcoming European elections and then to seek a longer delay and allow for a public vote on whatever parliament agrees.

A spokesperson for May said the government was hoping to avoid taking part in European parliamentary elections, however.


Meanwhile, former British foreign secretary and Brexiteer Boris Johnson also weighed in, saying May's new course of action would mean key law-making powers could end up being "handed over to Brussels."

"As it is, we now face the ridiculous possibility of being forced to contest the European elections more than three years after [voting to] leave the EU and having to agree to exit terms that in no way resemble what the people were promised when they voted to leave," he said.
See also: And check out SOTT radio's:

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Wine

Best of the Web: Unparalleled EU moment: China has arrived

Patrick Lawrence
Consortium News
Mon, 01 Apr 2019 00:00 UTC
Xi Jinping
© Wikimedia CommonsPresident of People's Republic of China, Xi Jinping celebrates in Europe
It would be difficult to overstate the importance of Xi Jinping's visits to Rome, Paris and Monaco last week. In bringing his much-remarked Belt and Road Initiative to the center of Europe, the Chinese president has faced the Continent with the most fundamental question it will have to resolve in coming decades: Where does it stand as a trans-Atlantic partner with the U.S. and - as of Xi's European tour - the western flank of the Eurasian landmass? The simplicities of the postwar order, to put the point another way, have just begun to pass into history.

In Rome, the populist government of Premier Giuseppe Conte brought Italy into China's ambitious plan to connect East Asia and Western Europe via a multitude of infrastructure projects stretching from Shanghai to Lisbon and beyond. The memorandum of understanding Xi and Deputy Premier Luigi Di Maio signed calls for joint development of roads, railways, bridges, airports, seaports, energy projects and telecommunications systems. Along with the MoU, Chinese investors signed 29 agreements worth $2.8 billion.
BRI map
© Lommes, CC BY-SA 4.0 Wikimedia CommonsBRI’s six proposed corridors, with Italy circled, on maritime blue route. (Note: Map does not include latest national boundaries.)

Comment: See also:

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Oil Well

US 'will probably fail' in complete cutoff of Iranian oil exports - but that could be good news for Trump

Sam Meredith
CNBC
Wed, 03 Apr 2019 00:00 UTC
2 boats Iran
© Ali Mohammadi/Bloomberg/Getty ImagesA support vessel flying an Iranian national flag sails alongside oil tanker ‘Devon’ preparing to transport crude oil to export markets in Bandar Abbas, Iran, on Friday, March 23, 2018.
The U.S. is overwhelmingly likely to fail in its attempt to completely halt Iran's oil exports, analysts told CNBC, with President Donald Trump eager to avoid rising gasoline prices ahead of presidential elections next year.

As the first anniversary of the U.S. withdrawal from a 2015 nuclear accord between Iran and several world powers approaches, energy market participants are waiting to see whether the Trump administration will extend sanctions waivers on eight countries importing Iranian oil.

Trump has until May 2 to decide whether to issue new waivers to eight governments - China, India, Japan, Turkey, Italy, Greece, South Korea and Taiwan - that were allowed in November to keep buying Iranian oil without facing penalties.

"The U.S. will probably fail to reduce Iranian exports to zero, despite renewed talk from the White House about letting all oil import waivers expire in early May," analysts at Eurasia Group said in a research note published Tuesday.

Given OPEC and non-OPEC production cuts and conditions in Venezuela, "the oil market probably cannot absorb the loss of 1.3 million barrels per day (bpd) of Iranian crude without a significant effect on domestic gasoline prices - a red line for U.S. President Donald Trump," they added.

Comment: More on oil wavers from VOA, 4/2/2019:
Three of the eight countries to which Washington granted waivers to import Iranian oil have now cut their shipments from Iran to zero, a U.S. special representative said on Tuesday.

"In November, we granted eight oil waivers to avoid a spike in the price of oil. I can confirm today three of those importers are now at zero," Brian Hook, the envoy on Iran, told reporters. Hook did not identify the three countries.


We can presume, from the above article, those countries are Greece, Italy and Taiwan.


A senior Trump administration official told reporters on Monday that the U.S. government was considering additional sanctions against Iran that would target areas of its economy that have not been hit before.


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X

Opposition leader Juan Guaido is stripped of immunity by Venezuela's Constituent Assembly


RT
Wed, 03 Apr 2019 00:31 UTC
Guaido
© Valery Sharifulin/TASSPretender Juan Guaido
Venezuela's National Constituent Assembly has backed a Supreme Court request to strip Juan Guaido of his immunity, paving the way for possible legal proceedings against the US-backed opposition leader calling for regime change.

The decision to revoke Guaido's immunity - which he has held as the head of the opposition-controlled National Assembly - came a day after Venezuela's Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) urged the ANC lawmakers to take action against the self-proclaimed 'interim' president, as he stands accused of inciting violence and engaging in an illicit financial activity.

"Justice is necessary for the guarantee of peace," the president of the assembly Diosdado Cabello stressed, adding that ANC approves the top court's request "so that there is justice in our country."

The unanimous decision now paves the way for legal proceedings against the 35-year-old politician. "Sometimes the law takes time, but let's not despair," Cabello said, referring to the criminal investigations against Guaido currently being conducted by the Public Prosecutor's Office and the Supreme Court of Justice.


Comment: See also:

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Target

Papadopoulos, Russiagate's 'patient zero', hopes Mueller probe will expose deep state conspiracy


RT
Tue, 02 Apr 2019 23:42 UTC
Papadopoulos
© Reuters/Yuri GripasGeorge Papadopoulos
With the Mueller investigation over and the Russiagate DOA, George Papadopoulos, former Trump campaign energy adviser, told RT he hopes the truth about the alleged deep state conspiracy will soon come out.

Lamenting the "disinformation" encircling the Trump campaign and Russia over the past three years, Papadopoulos explains that the only reasons the Trump team ever wanted to work with Russia were to stabilize Syria and Ukraine - and "to assure that Russia and China do not align in this devastating geopolitical alliance which will probably have many unpredictable consequences for the US in Europe and in Asia."

But they never even got a chance to make any Russian connections, Papadopoulos says, adding that he was contacted by Israeli, Australian, and American intelligence - all of whom were interested in his "high-level connections in the Middle East" - but no Russians.
"It goes to the core of how corrupt the Mueller investigation really was, into supposed Russian interference when no one on the Trump campaign and the transition team was even dealing with Russians. I've never met a Russian...official in my entire life, and somehow I find myself in the middle of a fake Russian conspiracy!"
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Cut

UK: G4S privatized prison taken back under gov control due to appalling conditions and riots

Lizzie Dearden
Independent
Wed, 03 Apr 2019 09:04 UTC
HMP Birmingham
© PAThe Independent Paramedics entering HMP Birmingham during the 2016 riot
A privatised prison marred by riots, drugs, suicides, violence and "appalling" conditions has been taken back under permanent government control.

The Ministry of Justice cancelled G4S's contract to run HMP Birmingham, months after seizing temporary charge of the jail following an "urgent notification".

Officials denied the unprecedented move was a "public versus private sector issue", but critics claimed years of warnings over outsourcing prisons had been vindicated.

Mark Fairhurst, chairman of the Professional Trades Union for Prison, Correctional and Secure Psychiatric Workers (POA), said: "The obsession this Tory government has to outsource and privatise public sector work must cease.

Comment: This is just one of many attempts to privatize or outsource public services by the UK government that has abjectly failed:

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Dollars

Firms connected to Fusion GPS, Christopher Steele, were paid $3.8M by Soros-backed group

Chuck Ross
The Daily Caller
Mon, 01 Apr 2019 09:40 UTC
4 pics and money
© Sean Gallup/Getty Images/Tapwires.com/Europe Breaking News/Heavy.com/ZeroHedge/KJNFollow the Money
A nonprofit group partially funded by billionaire activist George Soros paid firms tied to Fusion GPS and dossier author Christopher Steele more than $3.8 million in 2017 to provide research and analysis to "government entities," according to IRS filings.

The payments made by The Democracy Integrity Project are more than three times what the DNC and the Clinton campaign paid Fusion GPS and Steele during the 2016 presidential campaign to investigate Donald Trump's possible ties to Russia.

Perkins Coie, the law firm that represented the DNC and Clinton campaign, paid $1 million to Fusion GPS in 2016 to investigate Trump. Fusion GPS in turn paid Steele, a former MI6 officer, nearly $170,000 for a project that resulted in the infamous Steele dossier.

Steele's report, which alleged a "well-coordinated conspiracy" between the Trump campaign and the Russian government, has come under intense scrutiny in the wake of the special counsel's findings in the 22-month Russia probe.

Daniel J. Jones, a former staffer to California Democrat Sen. Dianne Feinstein, founded TDIP on Jan. 31, 2017, seemingly to resume Democrats' investigation of Trump's possible links to Russia.
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X

Longtime Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika resigns after weeks of mass protests


Aljazeera
Tue, 02 Apr 2019 00:00 UTC
Bouteflika
© Mohamed Messara/EPA.jpgBouteflika comes out from a polling booth before casting his vote at a polling station in Algiers, Algeria, 29 November 2012.
Algeria's President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has resigned with immediate effect, according to state media, ceding power in the face of massive street protests against his 20-year rule.

The ailing, 82-year-old leader announced he was stepping down in a letter published by APS news agency on Tuesday, just hours after the army chief demanded immediate action to remove him from office.

Bouteflika said in the letter to the president of the Constitutional Council:
"My intention ... is to contribute to calming down the souls and minds of the citizens so that they can collectively take Algeria to the better future they aspire to. I have made this decision to avoid and prevent the arguments which distort, unfortunately, the current situation, and avoid its turning into serious skirmishes, to ensure the protection of persons and property."
The announcement prompted celebrations in Algeria's capital, Algiers, with hundreds of people singing songs and waving flags in front of the city's central post office.

"This is a victory for my country," said 25-year-old Kamel, who only gave his first name. "We now want the rest of the old guard to leave, we also want the corrupt businessmen to be judged. We have won one political battle, not yet the war."

Comment: See also:
After weeks of protest, Algerian army calls for President Bouteflika to be declared unfit to rule

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Russian Flag

Top Army general to Congress: Russia is an 'existential threat' to the US


RT
Tue, 02 Apr 2019 17:59 UTC
RS-24Yars ICBMs
© Reuters/Sergei KarpukhinRS-24 Yars nuclear ICBMs on show during the Victory Day parade, Moscow, Russia May 9, 2018.
A nuclear arsenal capable of destroying the US makes Russia the "only current existential threat" to Washington, US Army Chief of Staff General Mark Milley told lawmakers.

"Because of Russian nuclear capabilities they are the only country on Earth that is capable to destroy the United States," Milley said on Tuesday, testifying at a budget hearing before the House Armed Services Committee. However, having that capability does not mean Russia is currently planning to use it, he added.

Moscow is likely to "threaten our interests for the next 20 years as they attempt to regain control of historic spheres of influence and shape European economic and security structures in their favor," according to the top Army general. Russia will seek to undermine NATO and challenge the US in "all regions of the world," Milley insisted.

Arguing for the Army's portion of the Pentagon's $780 billion budget request for 2020, Milley also said that "near-peer competitors" such as China and Russia are "aggressively pursuing modernization programs" to erode US military dominance.
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