Puppet MastersS


Chess

US contractors in Syria for 1st time under Trump admin - DoD report

pentagon aerial photo
© Yuri Gripas / ReutersThe Pentagon is pictured in Washington DC on March 29, 2018.
A newly released Department of Defense (DoD) report has confirmed the presence of US contractors in Syria. It appears to be the first time this has been done under the Trump administration.

The report provides Department of Defense contractor personnel numbers for the second quarter of fiscal year 2018. It includes personnel in Syria, along with those deployed to Iraq, Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR), Afghanistan, Operation Freedom's Sentinel (OFS), and the US Central Command area of responsibility.

Syria is grouped together with Iraq, which means the exact number of contractors there remains unknown. However, the report does acknowledge that the overall numbers in the category went up by 11.7 percent "in part due to the inclusion of Syria reports in this quarter."

Eggs Fried

Freudian slip: Ex-ambassador tweets 'Saddam's weapons' on Syria attack

Former US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul
© Maxim Shemetov / ReutersFILE PHOTO: Former US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul
The US, British and French bombing of Syria has put many critics of US President Donald Trump in the awkward position of agreeing with him. One of them, former US ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul, slipped on his own tweet.

UPDATE: Mr. McFaul has now apologized for his typo in several further tweets and clarified that he, indeed, meant to say 'Assad' instead of 'Saddam.'

Attempting to explain why he agreed with the bombing on Twitter, McFaul made a point about appreciating the "most amazing" former President Barack Obama and voting for Senator Tim Kaine (and therefore Hillary Clinton) in 2016. So while McFaul thinks Trump has no strategy for Syria, he also approves of the "decision to degrade Saddam's chemical weapons last night." Oops.

Comment:
colin powell meme sadam weapons mass destruction syria russia
'Saddam...err, Assad has weapons of mass destruction!'



Bad Guys

Despite failures of previous sanctions against Russia, Haley says US to add more on Monday

Nikki Haley
© Brendan McDermid / ReutersFILE PHOTO
Washington plans to slap Moscow with a new batch of sanctions as early as Monday, the US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley said. The new measures are said to be a response to Russia's alleged "aggressive actions."

Haley blamed Moscow for the tense relations between the US and Russia and accused it of continuously engaging in aggressive behavior. She added that Washington would respond with a number of aggressive steps of its own.

"The sanctions [are] continuing to happen, which you will see again on Monday," Haley told Fox News Sunday. "This lets them [Russia] know that this [is] not good behavior."

Comment: For more insight into this latest geopolitical theater, see: About Those 'Nice, New, Smart' Missiles And The 'Chemical Weapons' Sites in Syria


Rocket

Satellite imagery shows damage to Syria's Barzeh scientific research complex from '76 missiles' strike

missile strike Barzeh
ImageSat International released satellite photos showing an aftermath of the April 14 US-led strike on the so-called "Barzah Research and Development Center" in Syria.

According to the Pentagon, the US and its allies launched 76 missiles at this center and all the missiles hit the target.


According to the photos, all three buildings of the facility were destroyed. According to Syrian sources, this facility has been mostly abandoned before the US-led strike.

Some experts question the need of 76 missiles to destroy three "abandoned" buildings.

Comment: See also: Mission accomplished? Syrian research lab destroyed in missile strikes produced snake venom antidotes, not toxic weapons


SOTT Logo Radio

SOTT Focus: Behind the Headlines: Humpty Trumpty? Western Reality Creation Taken to Breaking Point in Syria Strikes

US missile lanuch syria
"Look at our cool stuff!"
On the morning of April 14, a coalition consisting of France, the UK and the US (F.U.K.U.S.) launched over 100 missiles at several targets in Syria. Most were intercepted or jammed by Syrian air defenses, but the primary targets were either destroyed or damaged. That much is true. The rest is fiction at a level that would make even Karl Rove blush. The attack was in response to a fictional chemical weapons attack in Douma blamed on Assad and the Syrian military. No such attack took place. The targets were designated as chemical weapons facilities. They were not. The U.S. and its partners said it was a "one-time" attack, but that if Assad were to conduct any future fictional attacks, the U.S. would be forced to respond with additional symbolic attacks on additional fictional chemical weapons facilities.

This is the world we now live in, where policy and military action are conducted within imaginary worlds within imaginary worlds, projected into actual material space. To put it simply: it is all based on lies. And this latest iteration comes as the previous big lie is on its final breath: the Skripal saga. Whereas Mr. Skripal and his daughter have survived - because the "nerve agent" they were poisoned with turns out to be "BZ toxin" which only temporarily incapacitates its victims - the British government's narrative might suffer a more fatal end.

The lies are piling up to 'yuge' proportions, and all the queen's men won't be able to put them together again after they inevitably collapse. So tune in to Behind the Headlines this Sunday April 15, 4-5:30pm UTC / 12-1:30pm EDT / 6-7:30pm CET, as we 'judiciously study' the reality creators' creations coming to pieces. As always the lines will be open for calls and comments!

Running Time: 02:02:03


Download: MP3


Vader

US launched an impotent attack on non-existent Syrian "chemical facilities"

US missile lanuch syria
"Look at our cool stuff!"
The US, UK, and France announced strikes on what they call, "Syria's chemical weapons program."

The use of stand-off weapons such as cruise missiles and air-to-ground missiles reflects the US and its allies' fear of Syrian and Russia anti-aircraft defense systems.

The Syrian and Russian governments announced that 71 of over 100 missiles fired were intercepted, according to Russian media. Targets struck had already been evacuated or were not currently in use.

Attention

The Comey-Trump feud turns vicious

Comey and Trump
Former FBI Director James Comey's public feud with President Trump is growing strikingly personal.

In a tell-all book set for release on Tuesday, Comey writes that Trump wanted him to disprove allegations he had a salacious encounter with prostitutes in Moscow, in an effort to reassure his wife, Melania Trump.

Comey also writes dismissively of Trump's appearance, recalling white bags under his eyes, contrasting with orange skin, that he surmised came from wearing goggles during tanning sessions.

Comment: Given the pervasive anti-Trump sentiment, this book will, no doubt, be a best seller. We're not anticipating much more than mud-slinging and gossip. How classy for someone who recently headed the FBI.

See also:


Gem

The feeling is mutual: Russia and India on the Brink of a Major Trade Breakthrough

Putin and Modi
Russia and India are long-standing partners with a rich history of mutually beneficial cooperation. The two countries have great trading potential. However, Russian-Indian trade and economic cooperation cannot yet be called very active. This situation is not acceptable to either side, and now Russia and India are working to develop their economic relations.

For many years, the two countries have been cooperating in such critical areas as the defense industry, nuclear energy and space technologies. However, the total amount of mutual trade is still relatively small. Furthermore, over the past few years, trade volumes have begun to decline, forcing the leadership of Russia and India to pay special attention to this issue. Thanks to joint efforts in 2017, steady growth has finally begun. In the period from January-November 2017, Russian-Indian trade exceeded $8 billion, more than 21 percent more than trade for the same period in 2016.

2018 also began successfully - trade for January 2018 exceeded similar indicators from 2017 by 55 percent. It is expected that growth will continue, and in 2018 Russian-Indian trade will rise beyond the $10 billion mark. However, according to Russian and Indian experts, these figures could be much higher if the potential of Russian-Indian trade had been fully realized.

In March 2018, the media reported on the meeting between the Russian Minister of Economic Development Maxim Oreshkin and Indian Minister of Trade and Industry Suresh Prabhu. During the talks, the ministers discussed various barriers to economic cooperation between Russia and India. Such barriers were found in the financial sphere, customs legislation and a number of other areas. As a result, a plan was adopted to remove these obstacles; with the successful implementation of this plan, Russian-Indian trade could reach $30 billion by 2025.

USA

SOTT Focus: About Those 'Nice, New, Smart' Missiles And The 'Chemical Weapons' Sites in Syria

Trump nice new smart missile
Throughout the 20th century, the US ability to project power and dominate global geopolitics was, to a large extent, based on the general perception that the US was the most powerful military force in the world. In most cases, the mere threat of this military prowess was enough to 'get things done' the American, or Western, way. The maintenance of the widespread belief in US military preeminence is therefore extremely important to the US establishment, and any event that might expose a different reality is to be avoided at all costs. When US/Western military might is physically demonstrated, a careful propaganda campaign and media management of the outcome is necessary, up to and including outright lies about the performance of the military tech used. No surprise there.

Radar

Israeli media alarmed over Russia's comment on possible S-300 supply to Syria

Russian S-300 missile system
© Sputnik / Russian Defence Ministry
The statement, made by the Russian Defense Ministry, that Moscow might reconsider a sale of the S-300 systems to Damascus following the US and allied airstrike, has raised concern among Israeli analysts and journalists, who are concerned over possible threats it may pose to the Jewish state.

The Jerusalem Post has warned that "Israel's air superiority is at risk of being challenged in one of the most difficult" areas if Russia decides to sell Syria more advanced air defense systems. The newspaper has voiced fears that the Israeli pilots might get killed if Damascus had its hands on more effective missiles. The unit in question is the S-300, a Russian long range surface-to-air missile system, developed to defend against aircraft and cruise missiles. The system is one the most advanced weapons in its class.

Analyst from I24 news broadcaster Ron Ben-Yishai backs these concerns, saying that the Jewish state would have to take "cautionary and preventive measures not yet taken so far."