Puppet MastersS


Megaphone

'You condemn us because we are not a nation of migrants,' Hungarian PM Orban tells EU before sanctions vote

Viktor Orban
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban delivered a fiery speech to European lawmakers in Strasbourg, before they began deliberations on suspending the country's key EU rights due to his government's policies.

Orban accused the "pro-migrant majority" of having "already made up their minds" to invoke the European Union Treaty's Article 7 against Hungary, for its treatment of migrants and minorities, and the ruling party purported abuse of the law and suppression of media freedoms.

"Hungary will not accede to this blackmailing, Hungary will protect its borders, stop illegal migration and - if needed - we will stand up to you," said Orban, who was re-elected with an overwhelming majority in April.

"Hungary is going to be condemned because the Hungarian people have decided that this country is not going to be a country of migrants."

Bad Guys

Al-Qaeda rebranded by US government & media as besieged rebels 17 years after 9/11

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham
© Omar Haj Kadour / AFPHayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) members at a camp in the countryside of the northern Idlib province on August 14, 2018
Seventeen years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the US government and media outlets have decided that Al-Qaeda is now a rebel group worthy of our sympathy. The cynical narrative change is par for the course, experts told RT.

As somber newspaper headlines mark the anniversary of the devastating attacks, some commentators have pointed out that the terrorist group accused of murdering 3,000 Americans seventeen years ago is now occupying northeastern Syria - with the US threatening to take military action if the "rebels" are evicted from the region by the Syrian army and its allies.

The United States has spent an estimated $1.5 trillion on its Global War Against Terrorism, launched in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, but the United States now seems to find itself providing diplomatic cover - not to mention excellent press - to the terrorists that it once vowed to eradicate.

The majority of Syria's Idlib province is controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a State Department-designated terrorist group that is regarded as indistinguishable from Al-Qaeda. But the US has signaled that it will respond militarily to any efforts by Damascus to evict the internationally-recognized terrorist group from its last stronghold in Syria, with the New York Times even fawning over the jihadists as "a de facto governmental authority, facilitating trade across the long border with Turkey and organizing aid deliveries."

Whistle

Best of the Web: Former head of Georgian Security Service accuses US of conducting lethal biological experiments on people

Translated by Ollie Richardson & Angelina Siard

Originally published in Russian on 11/09/2018 at tass.ru
pentagon biological experiments
'Take us to your leader'
The former Minister of State Security for Georgia, Igor Giorgadze, has urged US President Donald Trump to investigate experiments conducted on people in the Richard Lugar Center for Public Health Research on Georgian territory, and to close this laboratory. Giorgadze made the appeal on Tuesday during a press conference in Moscow, having release data to the public about crimes in this center.

"I appeal to the leadership of the US, and to the US President, with a request to carry out an investigation. The people of Georgia will be grateful to you if you save the country from this experimental activity," he said. "Token payments and apologies [to relatives of the victims of experiments] won't be able to compensate for these lives."


Comment: Creepy imperialists. What are they up to? They're not seriously considering developing and deploying 'ethnic-specific weapons against Russians, are they?

See also:


Target

German military strikes on Syria would be 'absurd & irresponsible' - Left Party chair

German Air Force Airbus
© Fabrizio Bensch / ReutersA German Air Force Airbus A-400 M aircraft is pictured in Berlin on July 31, 2018.
The leader of Germany's Left Party hit out at the government for mulling potential military strikes against Damascus, just one day after Berlin said it was in talks with allies about possible German military deployment in Syria.

"I believe that these discussions are completely irresponsible," Die Linke (the Left Party) leader Sahra Wagenknecht told German N-TV, adding that discussing such plans is "absurd."

In a Facebook post just hours earlier, Wagenknecht demanded from German Chancellor Angela Merkel that the federal government not blindly follow demands from the Trump administration.

Merkel should "make it clear [to Washington] that there will be no automatism for a German participation" in US-led strikes on Syria, she said, branding such attacks as "violating international law."

Comment: It seems only Merkel thought it might be a good idea to consider joining in the bombing of Syria: Merkel mulls bombing Syria but coalition partner says 'Nein'

See also:


Light Saber

International Criminal Court brushes off US threats of sanctions over Afghan war crimes probe

ICC international Criminal court
"This demonstrates that Canada's tendency to apply double standards when it comes to Israel is very unpopular with Canadians," IJV's National Coordinator Corey Balsam
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has said it will "continue to do its work undeterred," after US National Security Advisor John Bolton threatened sanctions if the tribunal investigates alleged US war crimes in Afghanistan.

The Hague-based court investigates genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes and is backed by 123 countries - but not by China and the US.

"The ICC, as a court of law, will continue to do its work undeterred, in accordance with those principles and the overarching idea of the rule of law," it said in a statement on Tuesday.

The tribunal's remarks came in response to a scathing verbal attack launched by Bolton in Washington DC on Monday during a speech to the conservative Federalist Society.

Comment:


Attention

Robert Fisk: Warned of mass murder and catastrophe in Idlib, I prowled front lines for two days. I didn't find what I expected

Robert Fisk Idlib
© Independent/Nelofer PaziraRobert Fisk looks towards Nusrah positions from a Syrian army post on the edge of Idlib.
The only massed forces I came across were vast herds of sheep and, close to Aleppo, a string of camels. War might be coming, but not yet...

Every journalist would like to start a report with the words: "All quiet on the western front." Or the eastern front. And I had actually scribbled "all quiet on the northern front" in my notebook, on my rural way to the far northern village of Kansabba on Syria's front line opposite Idlib province, when an artillery piece in the forest banged off a shell over our heads. It took 25 seconds for the sound of the explosion - on the hills to the north-east - to echo softly back to us through the trees. Then a second round. And a third. A few Syrian soldiers on motorcycles purred along the road. Front lines are like this. Sunlight, lots of clouds, a winding country lane way, an explosion and then a herd of sheep drift out of a field at the bidding of a cowled shepherd.

So goodbye to the "all quiet" bit. But here's the problem. Syria makes no secret that it has amassed 100,000 troops around Idlib province for the "last battle" against its Islamist enemies; give or take any who can be persuaded to "reconcile" with the Syrian government via the Russians, go "home" - Tajikistan, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Chechnya, you name it - or surrender. And as we all know, a lot of the jihadis in the Idlib "terrorist" dustbin - the Russians and Syrians use "terrorism" now with all the alacrity that George W Bush deployed after he invaded Iraq - preferred to battle on in Idlib after leaving the big cities of Syria.

Briefcase

Mark Meadows begins outlining FBI's corrupt methods (media reports) and corrupt sources (journalists)

Rep. Mark Meadows
© I Rite 4 URep. Mark Meadows (R-NC)
As details and documents are pried from the grip of FBI officials intent on hiding the institutional malfeasance, one corrupt issue has become increasingly clear. The FBI and DOJ intentionally leaked information to the media and then cited the subsequent media reports for their ongoing investigative purposes.

Within this circular approach journalists became "sources" and media reports became "methods". Thus, the FBI and DOJ are desperate to protect "sources and methods" because behind the familiar catch-phrase is an outline of procedural corruption. ie: "by the book".

Representative Mark Meadows (R-NC) is one of the congressional investigators who, with greater document release, is beginning to outline this approach.

In a letter today to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein (full pdf below) Mr. Meadows points to new discoveries of how FBI Lawyer Lisa Page and FBI Agent Peter Strzok were using leaks to the media in April 2017 to further the aim of eliminating President Trump.

Comment: See also:
New texts reveal FBI leaked information to the press to damage Trump


Stop

Turkish Defense Minister Akar calls for halt of military operations in Idlib

Airstrike Kafr Ain S. Idlib province
© AFP 2018/Anas AL-DYABAirstrike on Kafr Ain in southern Idlib Province, Syria, September 7/2018
While the Syrian government has regained control over most of the country's territories following several years of armed conflicts with the opposition and militant groups, including terrorist organizations, the Idlib de-escalation zone remains a stronghold of insurgency and is still being cleared of terrorists.

Meanwhile, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said Monday that ground and air operations in the Syrian province of Idlib should be stopped immediately. "Attacks from the air and land in Idlib should be stopped immediately, the ceasefire regime must be secured and extended," Akar told reporters in Ankara.

While the Syrian government has regained control over most of the country's territories following several years of armed conflicts with opposition and militant groups, including terrorist organizations, the Idlib de-escalation zone remains a stronghold of insurgency and is still being cleared of terrorists.

According to the Kremlin, the terrorism hotbed in Idlib destabilizes the situation in Syria and undermines the work toward the political settlement of the conflict. Moreover, Russian officials have repeatedly warned that terrorists were planning a false-flag chemical weapons attack in Idlib with an aim to provoke Western retaliation against the Syrian government.

Comment: The Turks have a complex problem going forward as Idlib undergoes liberation efforts from terrorist occupation. Besides the thousands of reported FSA members in the area and Turkish troop deployments, Erdogan is concerned the operation will cause a major influx of refugees into Turkey, and thus enable jihadists to sneak into his country.

See also: Trilateral summit in Tehran: The outcome for the Idlib offensive


X

Netherlands ends funding for Syrian militant groups, did not live up to 'expectations'

rebels
© Debating Europe
The Netherlands will end its support for Syrian militants, since the program did not yield the "expected" results. Earlier, journalists found one of the groups had been labeled 'terrorist' by the Dutch justice department.

"The opportunity to quickly change the situation [in Syria] is extremely small," reads the letter the lower house of the parliament by Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok and Minister for Foreign Trade Sigrid Kaag, announcing the end of support programs for the militants in Syria.

The program to support "moderate" anti-government groups in Syria was established in close cooperation with "like-minded donors who pursued the same goals as the Netherlands" and [has] cost the country over $80 million (some €69 million) over the years, according to the document. It failed to "bring the expected results," however, and is to be closed since the Syrian troops "will soon win" the war against militant groups.

Over the years, the Netherlands allocated $29 million (€25 million) to the so-called "non-lethal assistance" (NLA) program, $14.5 million (€12.5 million) were donated to the so-called White Helmets and $17.1 million (€14,8 million) went to the Access to Justice and Community Service (AJACS) program. The AJACS was supposedly designed to support "community police" work in Syria, specifically the so-called Free Syrian Police (FSP) group.

The support for militants is set to end immediately, yet the White Helmets will be funded until December, according to the document. Since the White Helmets now operate only in the Idlib province, which is believed to be the destination of the looming offensive by the Syrian Army and its allies, their future is quite doubtful, the document states.

Comment: The veil of lies, camouflaging the true nature and purpose of the terrorist entities, could not have been so opaque as to not raise questions and concerns over several years of war in Syria. How many other countries contributed to this proxy support system without monitoring, investigation or verification?


Arrow Up

Xi Jinping: Unpredictable geopolitical climate increases importance of Russia-China ties

XiPutin
© Free Press KashmirPresident Xi Jinping and President Vladimir Putin
An increasingly unpredictable geopolitical climate makes the partnership between Moscow and Beijing more important, Chinese leader Xi Jinping said during talks with President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday.

The two leaders met at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok in Russia's Far East. During the talks, Xi also advocated for both countries to team up against protectionism.

The Russian-Chinese partnership "allows us to jointly neutralize the external risks and challenges, and to assist joint development," Xi later told the delegation of Russian and Chinese governors.

Putin echoed Xi's position, saying that a lot depends on how Russian-Chinese ties play out. "Our relations are crucial, not only for our countries, but for the world as well," he said.

Xi and Putin agreed to work on boosting trade and to conduct more bilateral transactions in the Russian ruble and the Chinese yuan, rather than the US dollar. The decision to increase the number of yuan-ruble contracts between the nations was reached back in June.