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Russian fighter jet flies within 5 feet of US spy plane "preventing violation of Russian airspace", ends its mission prematurely - UPDATE (VIDEO)

Ryan Browne and Zachary Cohen
CNN
Tue, 30 Jan 2018 16:50 UTC
Russian Fighter Flies Within 5 Feet of US Spy Plane, Causes It to End Its Black Sea Mission Prematurely
Image from the released video.
A Russian Su-27 jet performed an unsafe intercept of a US Navy surveillance plane while it was flying in international airspace over the Black Sea Monday, three defense officials told CNN.

The American pilots reported that the Russian jet came within 5 feet of the US plane, according to two of the officials.

The Russian jet's action forced the US Navy aircraft to end its mission prematurely, one of the officials said.

The US State Department issued a statement late Monday accusing the Russians of "flagrantly violating existing agreements and international law."

"This is but the latest example of Russian military activities disregarding international norms and agreements," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in the statement. "We call on Russia to cease these unsafe actions that increase the risk of miscalculation, danger to aircrew on both sides, and midair collisions."


Comment: The US State Dept. knows all about "flagrantly violating existing agreements and international law".


Comment: Leave it to CNN to be overly dramatic whenever there's a chance to demonize Russia.

UPDATE: 31st January 2018


Zero Hedge reports:
In the latest attempt to recreate Top Gun in real life, a Russian Su-27 fighter jet reportedly performed an "unsafe intercept of a US Navy P-3 Orion surveillance plane" while it was flying in international airspace next to Russia, over the the Black Sea Monday, CNN reports.

What makes today's alleged close encounter remarkable is that the American pilots reported that the Russian jet came within five feet of the US plane. The Russian jet's action forced the US Navy aircraft - which was spying on Russia from above international waters in immediate vicinity to Russia - to end its mission prematurely.

Russian Su-27 seen here intercepting a Swedish ELINT Plane
Russian Su-27 seen here intercepting a Swedish ELINT Plane
Lt. Col. Michelle Baldanza, a spokeswoman for the Pentagon, claimed that the Russian warplane came within five feet of the US spy plane, forcing it to veer off course and end its mission prematurely. She added that the intercept was unsafe because the Russian aircraft crossed in front of the Aries, exposing the American plane to the turbulence left in the Su-27's wake. As a result, the Aries experienced "a 15-degree roll and violent turbulence."
pampers diapers for those flying into russian airspace nato US
A separate statement came from US Naval Forces Europe-Africa, corroborating the Pentagon's allegations.
"On Jan. 29, 2018, a US EP-3 Aries aircraft flying in international airspace over the Black Sea was intercepted by a Russian Su-27," the press release said. "This interaction was determined to be unsafe due to the Su-27 closing to within five feet and crossing directly through the EP-3's flight path, causing the EP-3 to fly through the Su-27's jet wash. The duration of the intercept lasted two hours and 40 minutes."
Indicatively, this situation would be reversed if a Russian spy plane was casually spying on the US while flying above international waters in the Gulf of Mexico. One wonders how calmly the USAF would respond in that particular case.


The US illegally crosses into sovereign territory all the time and thinks nothing of it: Illegal US 'airbase' three times the size of Lebanon being set up in Syria


Separately, Russia's Sputnik News reported that the Russian Defense Ministry confirmed that one of their Su-27 fighter jets intercepted a US Navy EP-3 Aries surveillance plane in international airspace over the Black Sea on Monday. The Pentagon slammed the interception as "unsafe," but Moscow replied that they took "all necessary precautions" to avoid a hazardous situation.

The Russian Defense Ministry dismissed the allegations, saying that they took all necessary precautions to avoid a dangerous situation during the intercept.
"The crew of the fighter jet reported the identification of an American reconnaissance aircraft and accompanied the spy plane, preventing it from violating the Russian airspace while observing all necessary security measures," the ministry said in a statement.

"The Russian Su-27 fighter jet conducted the entire flight in strict accordance with international rules of the use of airspace. No extraordinary situations occurred during the intercept," the statement added.
In the past year, there have been several unsafe interactions between Russian and US military forces near the Black Sea, where Russian, US and NATO forces operate in close proximity to one another as a result of the military buildup by both Russia and NATO around Crimea and Eastern Europe.

In the most recent encounter over the Black Sea, a Russian Su-30 fighter jet made an "unsafe" intercept of a US P-8A Poseidon aircraft in November.
The Russian jet's actions were deemed unsafe because the aircraft crossed in front of the US plane from right to left while engaging its afterburners, forcing the P-8 to enter its jet wash, an action that caused the US plane to experience "a 15-degree roll and violent turbulence," according to Lt. Col. Michelle Baldanza, a spokeswoman for the Pentagon.
The last reported incident between US and Russian aircraft occurred in December above Syria, when US F-22s intercepted Russian attack jets after they flew over the de-confliction line intended to ensure safety. The US jets fired warning flares during the intercept of the two Russian Su-25 close air support jets after they crossed the de-confliction line multiple times. At the time, Russia's Ministry of Defense issued a statement denying the incident took place west of the de-confliction line, accusing the F-22s of interfering with the flight of the Su-25s while they were operating along the western bank of the Euphrates River.


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Propaganda

Meet the cabal that are framing American activism as "Russian influence" and "fake news"

Adam Carter
Disobedient Media
Mon, 29 Jan 2018 12:00 UTC
man arm extended twitter
Can we trust the judgement of think-tanks who have labeled Twitter users as part of a 'Russian influence campaign' as sound when those same entities provide little evidence, and their high-level members include former Clinton supporters?

At the beginning of 2017, an initiative was launched by a non-partisan think-tank called the German Marshall Fund US (GMFUS) under the name "The Alliance For Securing Democracy" (ASD).

During the Summer, ASD started working on a project they called the "Hamilton 68 Dashboard", an effort that was presented to the public as a means of monitoring Russian disinformation efforts on Twitter, apparently boosted by research covering a three year period.
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Newspaper

Assange: After 'gleefully championing the butchering of thousands' of Libyan women, Clinton 'covers up sexual impropriety'


Sputnik
Wed, 31 Jan 2018 12:10 UTC
Hillary Clinton
© AP Photo/ Patrick Semansky
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has lambasted Hillary Clinton for her reportedly refusing to fire her adviser accused of sexual harassment during the 2018 presidential campaign.

Commenting on a New York Times report about Hillary Clinton keeping the alleged sexual harasser advising her presidential campaign in 2008 on his Twitter page, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange lashed out at what he described as Clinton's "outrageous" step to "cover up sexual impropriety" and reminded her of the sufferings of the women in Libya.
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Fire

Threads Of Establishment Russia Narrative Trace Back To Neocon Think Tanks

Caitlin Johnstone
Steemit
Tue, 30 Jan 2018 14:36 UTC
William Kristol
Do you want to know the secret for 100 percent guaranteeing that you will always be on the right side of history for every single foreign policy debate? It takes three very simple steps:
Step One: Pick any disputed issue of foreign policy.

Step Two: Find out what the dominant neoconservative think tanks are saying about it.

Step Three: Advocate the exact opposite position with confidence and authority.

Comment: See also:

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Eye 1

PayPal freezes account of Palestine activists in France with no reason given

Ali Abunimah
Electronic Intifada
Wed, 31 Jan 2018 10:44 UTC
PayPal claims that it is “giving opportunity to people across the globe,” but why are Palestinians and their supporters being left out? (Wikimedia Commons)
© (Wikimedia Commons)PayPal claims that it is “giving opportunity to people across the globe,” but why are Palestinians and their supporters being left out?
PayPal, already facing pressure for its refusal to provide services to Palestinians living under Israeli military occupation, appears to be going a step further in its anti-Palestinian efforts.

Last week it abruptly shut down the account of a major Palestine solidarity group in France without providing an explanation.

In taking this action, the global payment and money transfer firm appears to be caving in to pressure from Israel and its lobby groups.

Comment: The tech giants are revealing their hand with those they choose for these blocks and bans:

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Radar

Secret US military bases and CIA "Black" sites accidentally revealed by fitness app

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Mon, 29 Jan 2018 17:33 UTC
CIA
CIA "Black" sites in Djibouti, with the #Strava heat-map
An interactive online fitness tracking map published in November of 2017 which compiles a running history of the location and routes of 27 million fitness-device users has unwittingly revealed the location, staffing, patrol routes and layout of U.S. and foreign military bases around the world.

San Francisco based fitness company Strava posted their "global heatmap" to their website, containing two years worth of fitness data across several fitness devices such as Jawbone and Fitbit. The map is not live, rather, it is a composite of overlapping routes.

Comment: This is a prime example of the kind of tracking data the authorities have had access to since the technology was available, and all thanks to human error and a fitness tracking app. It does appear that there are some locations where phones are switched off on entry (or there's some kind of signal blocking technology on the site):

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Info

'Long live Russia, long live friendship' - Praise & heckling as Russian FM speaks at Syrian National Congress in Sochi


RT
Wed, 31 Jan 2018 10:40 UTC
Sergey Lavrov
© Sergei Karpukhin / Reuters
The opening speech by the Russian foreign minister at the Syrian peace forum in Sochi veered off script somewhat, when attendees expressed pro and anti-Russian sentiment as Sergey Lavrov took the floor.

Various factions of Syrian society gathered in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi for the summit, aimed at laying the foundation for peace in the war-torn country and boosting the stalled Geneva talks.

Nearly 1,600 invitations had been sent out to a range of groups and individuals in a bid to give a voice to all the sides interested in a peaceful resolution of the Syrian crisis.

Comment: See also: Sochi to host National Dialogue Congress in attempt to boost Syrian peace efforts

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Gear

Trump's 'magic moment': US as unique nuclear power in the World - 'They are not there yet, sadly'


RT
Wed, 31 Jan 2018 08:23 UTC
Boeing B-52 Stratofortress
© U.S. Air ForceThe Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is an American long-range, subsonic, jet-powered strategic bomber
The US must make its nukes "so strong and powerful" so as to deter any aggression that might come from state and non-state actors, President Donald Trump said, noting that the world is "sadly" not ready to ditch nuclear weapons.

"As part of our defense, we must modernize and rebuild our nuclear arsenal, hopefully never having to use it, but making it so strong and so powerful that it will deter any acts of aggression by any other nation or anyone else," Trump said.

Comment: See also:

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Snakes in Suits

Neocons are beating the drums of war and demand 'action' in Syria

b
Moon of Alabama
Mon, 29 Jan 2018 14:17 UTC
war in syria
The U.S. polity and media now acknowledge what we reported on December 21. The U.S. announcement to build up a 30,000 strong PKK army in north-east Syria was a disaster. It prompted Turkey to initiate its attack on YPG/PKK Kurds in Afrin. It threatens to drive it out of NATO and into Russia's open arms. It gives the Syrian government new leverage against the Syrian Kurds.

Under Turkish threats to attack U.S. forces in Syria, the Trump administration had to pull back - at least in its rhetoric. Independent of who rules Turkey the country will never acquiesce to an armed Kurdish entity on its southern border. The U.S. should have know this.

This failure of the Trump administration's plan has prompted a new push from neoconservative propagandists for a full U.S. war on Syria and its allies. The lobby shop of the Kagan family, the Institute For The Study of War, had its junior staff pen an op-ed for Foxnews to argue for a new study object:

It's time for Trump to face reality in Syria
The U.S. must rapidly change how it is executing policy in five key areas.
  1. Russian military bases. ...
  2. Acceptance of Bashar al-Assad. ...
  3. Syrian "de-escalation." ...
  4. The "peace" process. ...
  5. Iran and al Qaeda. ...
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Map

Israel's so-called 'safe zone' has been creeping further into Syria

Nour Samaha
The Intercept
Tue, 23 Jan 2018 09:27 UTC
Israeli-occupied Golan Heights
© Kyodo/APA Syrian military spokesperson, left, points to the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Dec. 23, 2017, in Quneitra in southwestern Syria.
Israel is expanding its influence and control deeper into opposition-held southern Syria, according to multiple sources in the area. After failed attempts to ensure its interests were safeguarded by the major players in the war next door, Israel is pushing to implement the second phase of its "safe-zone" project - an attempt to expand a buffer ranging out from the occupied Golan Heights deeper into the southern Syrian provinces of Quneitra and Daraa. The safe zone expansion marks a move toward deeper Israeli involvement in Syria's civil war.

The Intercept learned the outlines of the safe-zone expansion plan through a months long investigation relying on information from a variety of sources, including Syrian opposition activists on the ground in the south, Syrian opposition figures based in Jordan, Syrian government sources, and an Israeli-American NGO directly involved in the safe-zone project.

The safe zone appears intended to keep the Syrian army and its Iranian and Lebanese allies as far away from Israel's border as possible, as well as solidify Israel's control over the occupied Golan Heights. Israel seized the Golan from Syria in 1967's Six-Day War. Expanding a buffer zone would likely make any negotiations over the return of the Syrian territory more difficult in the future, because the Golan Heights will be surrounded on both sides by areas with significant Israeli influence.
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