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'We had patience until yesterday': Erdogan orders US asset freeze over Pastor Brunson row


RT
Sat, 04 Aug 2018 16:59 UTC
Erdogan
© FILE PHOTO Murat Kula / Presidential Palace / Reuters
The Turkish president has ordered a freeze on assets of the US Secretaries of Justice and Interior in a tit-for-tat response to sanctions Washington imposed on Ankara. Turkey's patience is now over, he said.

Turkey will freeze assets of the Secretaries of Justice (DoJ) and the Interior, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday. The announcement comes after Washington slapped its NATO ally with sanctions targeting Turkish Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul and Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu over the detention of American Pastor Andrew Brunson.

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Info

James Corbett: The only reason the US is negotiating with the Taliban is out of desperation, not principles

James Corbett
steemit.com
Sat, 04 Aug 2018 16:49 UTC
negotiating with taliban
It's not often that you see an MSM headline that tells an entire story, complete with a plot and sub-plot, but when you do it's usually in a tabloid. Such is the case with this recent doozy from The Daily Fail:

"America is talking to the Taliban in a bid to end 17 years of Afghanistan war as intermediaries seek deal with fanatics because diplomats fear Trump will withdraw all U.S. troops."

Talk about a headline. But look at what it tells us: The longest war in American history may finally be coming to an end, not because any strategic objective has been met but because . . . someone is scared that Trump might end the war? What on earth is going on here?

The story itself is relatively straightforward. The much-ballyhooed Afghan surge (or is that Surge II: The Surgening?) that Trump ordered last year is floundering. (I'll pause while you catch your breath from that shocking revelation.) US troops are no closer to taking the country back from the Taliban. The US installed puppet regime in Kabul is barely in charge of Kabul let alone any part of Afghanistan outside of the capital city. There are no great breakthroughs or victories to hail, and, with a new government in power in Pakistan that is thinking about cutting off the US supply lines to Afghanistan, things might be about to get even worse.

And so, in the midst of this mess, it seems the US is doing what it woulda/coulda/shoulda done a very, very long time ago: meet with the Taliban. Specifically, the State Department's Alice Wells met with a four-person Taliban delegation in Doha, Qatar last week to discuss a possible ceasefire.

Comment: See also:

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Bizarro Earth

Best of the Web: Myth of benevolent 'Western democracies' stoking aggression abroad, quelling dissent at home

Robert Bridge
RT
Sat, 04 Aug 2018 16:32 UTC
American soldiers at the US army base in Qayyara, south of Mosul
© Alaa Al-Marjani / ReutersAmerican soldiers at the US army base in Qayyara, south of Mosul
Western policymakers brazenly advocate that to be taken seriously, nations must emulate the Western democratic tradition. But peel back the veneer of these so-called democracies, and there lurks something sinister and rotten.

Just about 2,500 years ago, democracy took its first breath in that fertile hotbed of philosophical thought known as Athens, one of the many city-states that made up ancient Greece. This early experiment in 'rule by the people', which Winston Churchill once described as "the worst form of government, except for all the others," has gone on to generally define the political structure of what is known today as 'the Western world'.

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Eye 2

Meddling in Thailand: Shinawatra terrorists, accomplices defended by Soros-funded Human Rights Watch

Joseph Thomas
New Eastern Outlook
Sat, 04 Aug 2018 16:09 UTC
terrorist thailand Soros
Thailand was the scene of a smaller-scale foreign-backed destabilisation similar to those carried out by the United States and Europe against nations like Libya, Syria, Yemen and Ukraine from 2011 onward.

Between April and May of that year, nearly 100 would die and many more injured when US-backed former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra attempted to seize back power through violent street protests, armed insurrection, terrorism and nationwide arson.

Just as has been done in nations like Libya, Syria, Yemen and Ukraine, Human Rights Watch (HRW), funded by convicted financial criminal George Soros' Open Society Foundation, would leverage human rights in an attempt to depict the Thai government as "cracking down" on what it attempted to depict as peaceful, unarmed protesters.

Comment: Soros just has to stick his hand in everywhere.

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Hammer

'Insults and pathetic lies': Russian diplomat slams WaPo over its support for Bellingcat's false MH17 claims


RT
Sat, 04 Aug 2018 15:40 UTC
MH17 airplane tail
© Michael Kooren / Reuters
Russia has done everything to help the MH17 investigation, yet to its disgrace the Washington Post chooses to believe fake social media 'investigators' and cherry-pick facts, a senior Russian diplomat writes.

Dmitry Polyanskiy, first deputy permanent representative at the Russian mission to the UN, sent an open letter to the Post on Friday, after a July 25 story in the paper quoted him "in a very dubious context." The story talks about how "truth is winning" in a battle against "Russian disinformation," pitting Polyanskiy against the plucky social media investigators from Bellingcat - who just so happen to toil on behalf of the NATO-backed Atlantic Council.

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was traveling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on July 17, 2014 when it went down over the Donetsk region in Ukraine. All 283 passengers and 15 crew on board perished. Ukrainian air traffic control directed the flight through a combat zone, where government troops were trying to impose control over two rebellious regions by force.

Kiev and its allies in the West immediately accused the rebels or Russia of shooting down the airliner, with Bellingcat founder Eliot Higgins claiming a Russian Buk missile battery was present in the area at the time, based on youtube videos and social media postings.


Comment: Anatomy of a NATO troll: Eliot Higgins of Bellingcat


Comment: See also:

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Bomb

Leaked UN report reveals the obvious: North Korea's nuke and missile programs are still active


RT
Sat, 04 Aug 2018 15:05 UTC
north korean nuclear site
© KCNA / ReutersOfficial North Korean Central News Agency image shows the demolition of the Punggye-ri nuclear test site
North Korea has not abandoned its nuclear and missile programs, despite this year's earlier diplomatic breakthroughs and destruction of test sites, Reuters reports, citing a confidential UN paper.

The leaked report is said to be a six-month review by independent experts monitoring the implementation of United Nations sanctions on North Korea, and was submitted to the relevant UN committee late on Friday.

The paper, as cited by Reuters, alleges that Pyongyang has not abandoned its pursuit of missile and nuclear programs. It is also violating UN sanctions by exporting weapons to a "range of Middle East [and] African states," including to the Houthi rebels fighting against Saudi Arabia in Yemen, and has shipped coal, petroleum and textile products, all made illicit by the sanctions regime.

Comment: This is just another attempt to derail the peace process with North Korea. Kim did NOT agree to halt North Korea's nuclear and missile programs. That was never part of the agreement, and everyone should know that. The agreement was to work in that direction, with each side mutually taking steps to deescalate. Kim would be stupid to halt his deterrence programs without any parallel steps by the U.S. And until that time, the programs will continue. But there are certain elements in the military, intelligence and media who do not want peace. Thus reports like the above, designed to make it appear as if Kim is violating the terms set out in his agreement with Trump.

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Info

Russian general Gerasimov offers US' Dunford to cooperate on rebuilding Syria, repatriating refugees

Paul Antonopoulos
Fort Russ News
Sat, 04 Aug 2018 14:58 UTC
dunford gerasimov
© USN PO1C Dominique A. Pineiro / ReutersGen. Joe Dunford (left) and Gen. Valery Gerasimov (right), Helsinki, Finland, June 8, 2018
Major international media have reported that Russia's Armed Forces' Chief of General Staff, Valery Gerasimov has contacted his US counterpart Joseph Dunford with a proposal.

According to reports citing a US government memo, the Russian military has supposedly offered the US military to cooperate in rebuilding the devastated Syrian nation.

If the memo and reports are true, then Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, contacted United States General Joseph Dunford, head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on July 19, offering Russian cooperation in the reconstruction of Syria and in the repatriation of refugees to the Arab country.

This is the first time such a proposal has been reported, but details have not yet been released.

Comment: While unconfirmed, the terms of the memo are plausible and reflect the Russian approach to diplomacy. While they have every opportunity to throw the U.S. to the wolves by exposing U.S. collusion with radical jihadists, the Russian approach is to always leave the door open for cooperation, to let bygones be bygones, even to let the U.S. participate in the benefits (material and in terms of public image) of victory. But the U.S. is stubborn, as the memo also suggests: they will only cooperate once every last chance of subversion is gone, i.e., when the war is 'over'. But the war will only be over once the U.S. stops supporting 'opposition' in the form of jihadists and the Kurds. But even then, Russia will probably keep this offer on the table, because peace is the best outcome, even if one must swallow their pride to make it happen.

Update: The Russian MoD has now commented, blaming Washington for the leak:
The Russian offer, passed on through a confidential communication channel between the militaries of the two nations, was initially reported by Reuters on Sunday after the agency obtained a US government memo about it.

The Russian Ministry of Defense has now confirmed that a proposal to join efforts in Syria was sent by the chief of the Russian General Staff, General Valery Gerasimov, to the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, US Marine General Joseph Dunford, in mid-July.

Regarding the leak, Moscow said "the inability of the US side to comply with the agreement on publicizing the contacts [between the two militaries] only with the consent of both sides is disappointing."

"We expect that the US side will be able to take the necessary measures to prevent further violations of mutual agreements in the future."

The Russian MoD also expanded on the content of its offer. Moscow is open "to work with the Syrian authorities on providing security guarantees to the refugees from the Rukban camp in the US-controlled area of al-Tanf and creating necessary conditions for their return home."

The defense ministry also said it is prepared to "coordinate the issues of humanitarian demining, including in Raqqa," as well as addressing other humanitarian issues. The joint work would serve to establish a return to peaceful life in Syria as well as curbing attempts by terrorists to find recruits.

Moscow again underlined the importance of the secure communication channel with Washington on Syria, saying that it "helps [in] preventing incidents between our armed forces and finding mutually acceptable solutions [to pressing issues], taking into account the interests of both countries."

The Russian proposal "received an icy reception in Washington," Reuters reported.


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Stock Down

Pi$$ing off the whole world, one country at a time: Turkish lira plummeting under bite of US sanctions


RT
Sat, 04 Aug 2018 14:53 UTC
turkish lira
© Murad Sezer / Reuters
Investors are dumping Turkey's national currency, the lira, after Washington imposed sanctions relating to the trial of an American pastor accused of backing terrorism.

The lira hit an all-time low of 5.11 versus the dollar on Friday after the US sanctioned two of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ministers who played a key role in detaining American pastor Andrew Brunson. Turkish authorities are accusing Brunson of aiding the attempted military coup in Turkey in July 2016.

Inflation in Turkey surged over the last month, surging to almost 16 percent in July alone. Despite this, the country's central bank left the key interest rate unaltered at 17.75 percent. Erdogan earlier criticized his central bank for hiking the rates, which can be regarded as a sign that it has become less independent.

"Further escalation in the standoff could prompt further capital outflows and have a negative impact on the confidence in the economy," said Jakob Christensen, head of emerging markets research at Danske Bank, as quoted by Reuters.

"This is one of the key risks for Turkey, but you also have the underlying structural weaknesses in the economy, which are exacerbating these geopolitical concerns."

Comment: See also: Turkey vows retaliation against US sanctions over jailed pastor allegedly involved in 2016 coup

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Dollars

Two knockout blows to US imperialism: De-dollarization and hypersonic weapons

Federico Pieraccini
Strategic Culture Foundation
Fri, 03 Aug 2018 13:15 UTC
Putin and Xi
In the current multipolar world in which we live, economic and military factors are decisive in guaranteeing countries their sovereignty. Russia and China seem to be taking this very seriously, committed to the de-dollarization of their economies and the accelerated development of hypersonic weapons.

The transition phase we are going through, passing from a unipolar global order to a multipolar one, calls for careful observation. It is important to analyze the actions taken by two world powers, China and Russia, in defending and consolidating their sovereignty over the long term. Observing decisions taken by these two countries in recent years, we can discern a twofold strategy. One is economic, the other purely military. In both cases we observe strong cooperation between Moscow and Beijing. The merit of this alliance is paradoxically attributed to the attitude of various US administrations, from George Bush Senior through to Obama. The special relationship between Moscow and Beijing has been forged by a shared experience of Washington's pressure over the last 25 years. Their shared mission now seems to be to contain the US's declining imperial power and to shepherd the world from a unipolar world order, with Washington at the center of international relations, to a multipolar world order, with at least three global powers playing a major role in international relations.

The Sino-Russian strategy has shown itself over the last two decades to consist of two parts: economic clout on the one hand, and military strength on the other, the latter to ward off reckless American behavior. Both Eurasian powers have their respective strengths and weaknesses in this regard. If Russia's economy can hardly be compared to China's, China plays second fiddle to Russia's conventional and nuclear deterrents, and is quite some way behind Moscow in terms of hypersonic weapons. The cooperation between Moscow and Beijing aims to synergize their respective strengths.
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Stop

US District Court Judge warns Mueller team they 'can't prove conspiracy' without star witness

Alex Pappas & Anne Ball
Fox News
Sat, 04 Aug 2018 11:59 UTC
Paul Manafort
© AP Photo/Jacquelyn MartinPaul Manafort, center right, walks with his wife Kathleen Manafort, right, and Jason Maloni, Manafort's spokesman, left, as they arrive at the Alexandria Federal Courthouse in Alexandria, Va., Thursday, March 8, 2018.
The federal judge in the trial of ex-Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort told Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team on Thursday they cannot prove a key part of their case unless prosecutors call Manafort's former business partner to the stand.

U.S. District Court Judge T.S. Ellis III issued the warning after prosecutors suggested Wednesday that Rick Gates - who is cooperating with prosecutors and had been considered a potential star witness - might not be called to the stand after all.

Referencing Gates, Ellis told prosecutors in court they "can't prove conspiracy without him."

"Not necessarily," Mueller prosecutor Greg Andres responded, before saying they still have "every intention" to call Gates to the stand.
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