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Fresh US sanctions are attempts to sabotage mid-term elections and Helsinki Summit - Russian MP


RT
Fri, 03 Aug 2018 10:00 UTC
USA flag stop sign
A member of the State Duma Foreign Affairs Committee has said that US senators' latest sanctions initiative was motivated by the approaching congressional mid-term elections and predicted similar steps from American politicians.

"Instead of seeking new routes for the reopening of dialogue, a number of American senators are inventing excuses for sabotaging it," MP Sergey Zheleznyak told RIA Novosti. "After the Russian and US presidents had their summit in Helsinki, the Russophobic lobby in America experienced a shock and now they use all possible means to prevent a thaw in relations with our country."

"As November mid-terms are approaching there will be more and more demand for the 'Russian card' in the internal political game in America and it is obvious that similar initiatives will be proposed repeatedly," the lawmaker added.

Comment: See also:

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Vader

Prime Minister Rama: NATO to Build 1st Air Base in Western Balkans in Albania


Sputnik
Sat, 04 Aug 2018 20:40 UTC
NATO eFP battle group soldiers wait for NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg visit in Tapa military base
© REUTERS / Ints KalninsNATO eFP battle group soldiers wait for NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg visit in Tapa military base, Estonia, September 6, 2017
NATO is planning to build its first air base in the Western Balkans near the municipality of Kucove in central Albania, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said on Saturday.

"The North Atlantic Council approved the decision to build the first air base in the Western Balkans in Albania. In partnership with the Albanian government, NATO will invest over 50 million euros (some $58 million), and this is only for the first stage of modernization of the air base in Kucove," Rama said on Facebook.

The Albanian minister noted that the implementation of the project should start during the year. The air base will serve Albania's air forces, provide logistics support, training exercises and support NATO supply operations.


Comment: He added that Kuçovë will also serve as the national base for Albania's air forces, and assessed that this strategic investment represents a new standard for Albania's military.
"This huge investment without a doubt creates new opportunities for economic and social development of the whole region, through the construction of this new air base using the newest technologies", said Rama.
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Quenelle - Golden

Why the West fears 'Made in China: 2025'

F. William Engdahl
New Eastern Outlook
Fri, 03 Aug 2018 12:00 UTC
made in china 2025
The Trump administration has made the Chinese industrial transformation strategy, "Made in China: 2025," or simply China 2025 the explicit target of its current trade war offensive against the Peoples' Republic. Western industrial leading countries, including Germany, are understandably alarmed. Only they are ten years late, and until now have foolishly refused to collaborate with China in key developments, including of the new economic Silk Road or Belt Road Initiative. Here I want to briefly indicate what China is doing. In future reports I will discuss some fundamental flaws in their industrial strategy. Here it is important to understand what China 2025 signals to Western industrial domination.

When he took office, China President Xi Jinping moved to propose what is now the Belt and Road Initiative, a comprehensive network of new infrastructure projects going from China across Asia and Eurasia to the Middle East and the European Union. Xi proposed the BRI at a meeting in Kazakhstan in 2013. Then in 2015, after little more than two years in office, Xi Jinping endorsed a comprehensive national industrial strategy, Made in China: 2025. China 2025 replaced an earlier document that had been formulated with the World Bank and the USA under Robert Zoellick.

Comment: China has been making great strides in national and international development all the while the West has been busy making enemies and its economies are in freefall. And as is typical of the West, it thinks it can scupper China's efforts by way of belligerence and threats: Also check out SOTT radio's:

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Chess

Why Washington and Ankara won't quit cold Turkey

Finian Cunningham
RT
Sat, 04 Aug 2018 17:27 UTC
Trump Erdogan
© ReutersUS President Donald Trump talks to Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
The extraordinary war of words this week between Washington and Ankara points to an ineluctable conclusion: the US has decided to get heavy with Turkey to bring it into line.

Two members of the US-led NATO military alliance threatening each other with sanctions is an untenable situation. But there's much more to it than concerns solely over NATO - although given Turkey's membership of the military bloc since 1952, that is a major concern alone.

Already, the ramped up pressure from Washington hitting the Turkish economy seems to have produced desired results. At the ASEAN summit in Singapore on Friday, Turkey's foreign minister reportedly held a cordial meeting with American Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, vowing to resolve their dispute through dialogue.
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Eye 2

Flashback The UK's covert role in Julian Assange's detention

Jonathan Cook
Jonathan Cook Blog
Mon, 12 Feb 2018 17:13 UTC
Julian assange poor health
© GettyJulian Assange has remained in London's Ecuadorian embassy since 2012.
It now emerges that the last four years of Julian Assange's effective imprisonment in the Ecuadorean embassy in London have been entirely unnecessary. In fact, they depended on a legal charade.

Behind the scenes, Sweden wanted to drop the extradition case against Assange back in 2013. Why was this not made public? Because Britain persuaded Sweden to pretend that they still wished to pursue the case.

In other words, for more than four years Assange has been holed up in a tiny room, policed at great cost to British taxpayers, not because of any allegations in Sweden but because the British authorities wanted him to remain there. On what possible grounds could that be, one has to wonder? Might it have something to do with his work as the head of Wikileaks, publishing information from whistleblowers that has severely embarrassed the United States and the UK.

Comment: Unfortunately, Assange lost his case and continues confinement at the embassy. There are moves afoot from the new Ecuadoran president to end his asylum. Still, he has world-wide support:

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War Whore

Spinmeister: White Helmets chief denies terrorist links, blames 'mystery groups' for souring their reputation


RT
Sat, 04 Aug 2018 14:24 UTC
White Helmets
© CNN.comWhite Helmets stage a rescue.
In a talk with RT, White Helmets' boss vehemently denied any links to terrorists, instead employing controversy theories to blame forces "linked" to Syria and Russia for attempts to ruin reputation of his controversial group.

Raed al-Saleh, the head of the White Helmets did his utmost to defend the controversial organization's public image during a contentious talk with Afshin Rattansi, host of RT's Going Underground show. Speaking via Skype from Istanbul, he set the tone for the entire interview, claiming 150,000 people were saved by the Western-funded organization "from under the rubble during the aerial bombing from Syrian regime and Russia."

Al-Saleh and Rattansi spoke on the heels of reports that multiple White Helmets members were provided free passage from Jordan via Israel. Commenting on the news, he acknowledged "we currently have around 3,700 volunteers who are working in the areas that we are able to access," but denied to disclose whereabouts of the evacuees, only briefly telling "they are still in Jordan."


Comment: Defending the indefensible: Show this short video to anyone who still thinks White Helmets are 'heroes'

See also:

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Chess

Tehran sets terms of its withdrawal from Syria


Sputnik
Sat, 04 Aug 2018 16:54 UTC
Tehran, Iran
© fotolia/Borna_MirView of the Tehran, Iran
Iran might decrease its military presence in Syria and even leave altogether after the situation in the war-torn country normalizes and the fight against terrorism there brings significant results, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi said.

"As soon as we see that Syria is close to certain stability, and the fight against terrorism is close to its end, and significant results have been reached, of course, we might decrease the presence of our advisors in Syria or even withdraw from the country," Qassemi said in an interview with the Iranian Pupils Association News Agency (PANA) as quoted by the Iranian Foreign Ministry's website on Saturday.

Comment:

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Newspaper

'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.

Comment:

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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'.

Comment:

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