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Erdogan is delaying Idlib operation, but he can't do so indefinitely

Elijah J. Magnier
ejmagnier.com
Fri, 14 Sep 2018 10:29 UTC
idlib protest
Turkey is pushing further reinforcements of troops, commando units and tanks into the northern Syrian city of Idlib and around it, for a specific objective: to disrupt the attack against the city by the Syrian forces and their allies supported by Russia. Ankara is indeed taking advantage of the Russian slowing down of its strategy to liberate the city from jihadists (including al-Qaeda) due to the US threat to bomb the Syrian Army and government forces under that excuse of "using chemical weapons". This "chemical weapon" has become part of the battle of Idlib, used as a tool to wage war on Syria just as the war is coming to an end.

Russia considers the Turkish reinforcements as a breach of the Astana Turkish-Russian-Iranian deal, which limited the number of observation points and the military presence around the city and rural areas of Idlib. Moreover, Russia effectively considers Turkey to be unable to fulfil its commitment to totally end the presence of jihadists, especially including the group of al-Qaeda, stationed in the city and around it. In fact, the Turkish president Erdogan has asked for an extended delay to meet the Russian and the Iranian demands related to Idlib. This delay has been rejected by the government of Damascus whose leaders believe it is counterproductive to the interests of the country (to liberate the whole of Syria) and, further, would confirm the Russian president's hesitancy which is apparently due to the US threat.

Comment: See also: The Real Problem For Syria's Idlib Offensive is Turkey

Eric Zuesse offers a somewhat contrary analysis:
On Friday, September 14th, Turkey's Yeni Safak newspaper bannered "Idlib locals flee to Turkish-controlled areas for safety", and reported that, "The locals of Syria's Idlib have started to flee as fears of a looming offensive by the Assad regime and his allies grip the province." They also headlined "Turkey deploys more armored vehicles to Syrian border", and reported that, "More military reinforcements including tanks, according to reports from the ground arrived at the Syrian border in Turkey's southern Hatay province." These reports are consistent with the plan's being for Turkey to segregate-out the active jihadists in Idlib so as for Russia and Syria to slaughter those. Another headline there was from Reuters, "Turkey's Erdoğan, Russia's Putin to meet in Sochi on Monday", and this suggests that there is extremely close coordination between Putin and Erdogan on the plan as it proceeds forward. Russian intelligence knows where the al Qaeda and U.S. chemical weapons are located. Presumably, the goal is to kill all the other jihadists first, and then to leave till the end the killing of the ones who are operating the Al Qaeda and U.S. false-flag event. Idlib will remain in Syria. Erdogan doesn't want it.
Meanwhile, al-Qaeda orchestrated a series of "civilian protests" to show the world that Idlib's locals don't want Assad. But as usual, there's more to the story than meets the eye. See Moon of Alabama's analysis here. An excerpt:
Some prominent people also spoke about the event:
Harald Doornbos @HaraldDoornbos - 19:08 utc - 13 Sep 2018

Interesting. Son of Al-Qaeda co-founder Abdullah Azzam, Huthaifa Azzam, calls on opposition in Idlib not to raise black/jihadi flags during tomorrow's protest but only revolution flags because there are international journalists on the ground reporting on the protests.
...
Al-Qaeda has not vanished from Idleb. It still terrorizes the population. What would have been the punishment for not following the orders for these demonstrations. The gallows? A customary beheading? Or just some whipping of the soles of ones feet?

These videos of demonstrations are propaganda clips directed by the Turkish president Erdogan, in co-production with al-Qaeda, to delay the liberation of Idleb.

No one should fall for them.


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Info

Manafort pleads guilty to two charges in plea deal - will cooperate with Mueller investigation


RT
Fri, 14 Sep 2018 10:04 UTC
Paul Manafort
© BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / AFPPaul Manafort
Former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort has pleaded guilty to two criminal charges, and will cooperate with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's 'Russiagate' investigation as part of a plea deal.

In a Washington DC federal court, Manafort pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy against the United States and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice. Manafort had been facing seven counts of foreign lobbying violations and witness tampering, relating to his time lobbying for former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych over a decade ago.

Prosecutors said on Friday that Manafort will cooperate with Mueller's investigation as part of his plea deal. Per the deal, Manafort can be questioned by Mueller's team without his lawyer present.

In a separate trial in Virginia last month, a jury found Manafort guilty on eight counts of tax and bank fraud crimes. The Virginia jury was deadlocked on ten other counts, which will now be dismissed as part of Manafort's plea bargain, along with the outstanding charges in the latest case. Manafort does, however, waive his right to appeal the eight convictions.

In the Virginia trial, Mueller's team had sought to portray Manafort as a man of wealth, who lived a life of luxury at the expense of the American taxpayer.

Comment: Manafort is not the exception. Investigate just about anyone in Washington and you'll find a similar level of criminality. Manafort just got caught, and the reason he got caught is because of Russiagate hysteria.

See also: Lavrov: No trace of Russian involvement in Manafort case, yet Western media scapegoats Moscow

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Info

Merkel condemns anti-immigrant protesters, gets heckled in Bundestag

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Fri, 14 Sep 2018 09:56 UTC
Angela Merkel
German Chancellor Angela Merkel was heckled as she condemned thousands of right-wing protesters in eastern Germany, who took to the streets after the deadly stabbing of a 22-year-old German man at the hands of two Afghan nationals in the town of Chemnitz.
The German chancellor was heckled during a lively Bundestag debate by the head of the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany party (AfD), Alexander Gauland, who accused her of dividing Germany with her immigration policy, endangering peace and spreading fake news by supporting controversial evidence that far-right protesters were hounding foreigners through the streets. -Guardian
Merkel shot back, acknowledging the anger felt over the stabbing - however she said that "there is no excuse or explanation for rabble-rousing, in some cases the use of violence, Nazi slogans, hostility towards people who look different, to the owner of a Jewish restaurant, attacking police."

She also responded to comments made by the head of Germany's BfV domestic intelligence agency, Hans-Georg Maaßen, who criticized her spokesman for characterizing the anti-immigrant protesters as "hunting" immigrants.

Gauland accused Merkel of "spreading fake news when your spokesman spoke of 'Hetzjagd' (hunting)," adding "The truth is, there was no hunting down of people in Chemnitz."

Merkel shot back: "Abstract rows about 'Hetzjagd' are not helpful."
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Better Earth

Russia and Germany reaffirm their commitment to Nord Stream 2


RT
Fri, 14 Sep 2018 09:53 UTC
nord stream
© Grigory Sysoev / Sputnik
Moscow and Berlin have expressed the importance of the Russian gas pipeline project Nord Stream 2 to Germany, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated on Friday.

"We've discussed the complex of issues related to energy cooperation and confirmed the support for the Nord Stream 2 project, which is of a commercial nature and the implementation of which will strengthen the energy security of the European continent," said Lavrov after a meeting with his German counterpart Heiko Maas in Berlin.

The topic of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline was also raised during German Chancellor Angela Merkel's visit to Lithuania. Merkel said that she understood the Baltic countries' criticism over the expansion of the Nord Stream gas pipeline, but insisted that the project made economic sense. She added that Ukraine would still be a gas transit country after the pipeline is complete.

The goal of the $11 billion Nord Stream 2 pipeline project is to double the existing pipeline's annual capacity of 55 billion cubic meters. The first part of the joint project has been in operation since 2011. Moscow has repeatedly described Nord Stream 2 as a "purely economic project" and said Washington opposes it because it wants to force-feed its own liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Europe.

Comment: See also:

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Star of David

New leaked clips of censored film reveals The Israel Project's secret Facebook campaign

Ali Abunimah and Asa Winstanley
The Electronic Intifada
Fri, 14 Sep 2018 22:46 UTC
The Israel Project logo
The Israel Project, runs several covert hasbara propaganda groups
The Israel Project, a major advocacy group based in Washington, is running a secret influence campaign on Facebook.

This is revealed in The Lobby - USA, an undercover Al Jazeera documentary that has never been broadcast due to censorship by Qatar following pressure from pro-Israel organizations.

The video above, exclusive to The Electronic Intifada, shows the latest excerpts to leak from the documentary.

Earlier leaked footage published by The Electronic Intifada and the Grayzone Project has already revealed underhanded tactics by anti-Palestinian groups planned and executed in collusion with the Israeli government.
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Bulb

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development: Russia learned most from 2008 financial crisis


RT
Fri, 14 Sep 2018 10:33 UTC
modern city
© Sergey Alimov / Getty Images
In the decade following the financial crisis, Russia is one of the few countries that took the necessary steps to protect its economy from global turbulence, says the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

The 2008 financial crisis plunged economies across the globe into chaos for years, forcing the countries' regulators to fight with the far-reaching consequences of the crash.

Russia managed to become a textbook example to follow when it comes to repairing damages, according to the chief economist at EBRD, Sergei Guriev. The analyst cites such steps as floating the national currency, introducing tougher banking regulation, as well as creating a bigger ruble-denominated bond market as the wisest measures the government could take.
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Megaphone

Former YPG adviser: US trying to derail talks between Damascus and Kurds


Sputnik News
Fri, 14 Sep 2018 00:00 UTC
YPG gunman
© AFP 2018 / DELIL SOULEIMAN
Clashes between the Syrian Army and Syrian Kurdish militia left 18 dead in northeastern Syria last week. Speaking to Sputnik, Syrian Democratic Council chairman Rezzan Hiddo said tensions between Syrian government forces and Kurdish militia seem to exist only where US forces are present.

Last Saturday, 11 Syrian government troops and seven Kurdish militia members were killed at a checkpoint in central Qamishli, the de facto capital of the self-proclaimed Kurdish autonomous region in Syria's northeast. The clashes led to a rare spike in tensions between Damascus and Kurdish forces amid warming relations and months of fruitful negotiations.

Speaking to Sputnik, Rezzan Hiddo, a former advisor to the YPG militia and chairman of the Syrian Democratic Council, the political wing of the Syrian Democratic Forces, said the clashes were highly suspicious.
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Attention

Washington's edict: Do as we say or be punished - US Secretary of Energy Rick Perry


RT
Thu, 13 Sep 2018 21:23 UTC
Alexander Novac/Rick Perry
© RFE/RLWall Street JournalRussian Energy Minister Alexander Novak • US Energy Secretary Rick Perry
A routine press conference of the US energy secretary and the Russian energy minister has surprisingly turned into a lecture on Washington's superiority and exceptionalism as the US official faced a question on sanctions.

A sudden but not all that much unexpected rant by the US Secretary of Energy Rick Perry came as a response to RT's Maria Finoshina's inquiry about an apparent contradiction between the US accusations against Russia over its alleged use of energy policy as a political tool and Washington's own threats to bring Iranian oil revenues to "zero."

Instead of addressing this issue, Perry, who spoke to the journalists together with Russian Energy Minister Aleksandr Novak, preferred to explain that the US is simply in a unique position allowing it to basically impose its will on other countries, and the likes of Iran are, naturally, expected to oblige.


Comment: Rick Perry? Undeniably rude and diplomatically off the rails.

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Pistol

UN report spins Rohingya genocide, calls for charges against Myanmar officials

Joseph Thomas
New Eastern Outlook
Fri, 14 Sep 2018 03:59 UTC
Military guys
© UnknownMyanmar's senior military officials
Media headlines claim an independent UN report is calling for genocide charges against Myanmar officials.

Qatari state media outfit Al Jazeera, in its article, "UN report calls for genocide charges against Myanmar officials," claims:
Myanmar's senior military officials must be prosecuted for genocide and war crimes against the Rohingya and other ethnic minorities, a UN fact-finding mission has urged.

The mission, which was established by the UN Human Rights Council in March 2017, found that Myanmar's armed forces had taken actions that "undoubtedly amount to the gravest crimes under international law".
Al Jazeera admits Myanmar's military has been singled out by the report. Suspiciously absent from both the accusations made in the report and the charges called for, is State Counsellor of Myanmar Aung San Suu Kyi, referred to throughout the Western media and the report itself as the "de facto" leader of Myanmar.

The leader of a nation is undoubtedly responsible for the actions of that nation's military and while some claim Suu Kyi has no power over Myanmar's military, Al Jazeera itself notes her silence in even condemning the ongoing violence.

Comment: The UN, through its many 'services', is a compromised mechanism primarily utilized and controlled by the US to validate its positions and further its agendas. As the article aptly puts: 'The UN report is a political charade'. The Rohinga of Myanmar are only one of many 'politically-altered' victims.

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Russian Flag

Lavrov: Russia to create humanitarian corridors in Idlib, prevent civilian casualties


RT
Fri, 14 Sep 2018 12:36 UTC
Lavrov
© Reuters.R. Orlowski
Moscow will create humanitarian corridors in Syria's Idlib and encourage local reconciliation deals to prevent civilian casualties, the Russian Foreign Minister has said. He warned that terrorist sites would still be targeted. "We will do everything not to hurt civilian population," the diplomat said.

While delivering his message, Lavrov also pulled no punches on the way the Western coalition helped "liberate" cities. In particular, he touched upon Iraq's Mosul and Syria's Raqqa, which have been major strongholds of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) terrorists for a long time.

The cities were razed to the ground during the Western-backed offensives and corpses were lying under the rubble "for months," he said. The minister recalled that during these operations no proper evacuation corridors were created for civilians to leave.

Lavrov dismissed reports suggesting that the Syrian army has already launched an assault on Idlib.


Comment: Values in action: The US devastates, kills, maims, lies and takes no responsibility...following in its mentor's footsteps. Russia will do as it claims - take every measure possible to protect and shepherd civilians out of harms way.

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