Puppet MastersS


Sheriff

Best of the Web: As Russian MoD releases evidence of US military cooperation with ISIS, Lavrov slams illegal US presence in Syria

Adam Garrie
The Duran
Tue, 14 Nov 2017 18:47 UTC
Sergei Lavrov, Vladimir Putin and Sergei Shoigu
Sergei Lavrov, Vladimir Putin and Sergei Shoigu
This is Russia's strongest statement to-date, admonishing the illegal US presence in Syria.

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has slammed the US for its presence in Syria being not only illegal, but deeply counterproductive.

Lavrov also highlighted a statement from the Russian Defence Ministry which unequivocally accuses (with accompanying photographic evidence) the US of failing to target ISIS fighters in Syria while allowing them safe passage away from oncoming Syrian Arab Army liberators.

Syria has repeatedly stated, including at the United Nations, that US troops and airmen in Syria are not actually fighting ISIS but are merely playing an obstructionist role to the inevitable Syrian victory, one which includes the arming and financing of terrorist groups.

Russia's latest statements back up these crucial long-time claims by Damascus.


Comment: The Syrian government just yesterday, for the umpteenth time, demanded that US forces get out of its country.


Comment: The Russian Defense Ministry has provided further information, regarding the situation in eastern Syria and the covert US-led coalition support for ISIS terrorists.
Last week, units of the Syrian Army (while receiving support from the Russian Air Force) liberated the town of Abu Kamal, the last remaining ISIS stronghold in Syria, located at the Iraqi border. The operation not only delivered a decisive blow to ISIS, it also ascertained facts of direct cooperation and support provided by the US-led coalition to the ISIS terrorists.

Following the triumph of the Syrian Army, ISIS terrorists began to depart Abu Kamal en masse, while avoiding the strikes of Russian and Syrian aircrafts, and making their way for Wadi Al Sabha passage, located at the Syrian-Iraqi border.

The Command staff of the Russian forces stationed in Syria sent two requests to the Washington-led international "anti-ISIS" coalition headquarters, in order to conduct a combined operation so that the fleeing ISIS convoys on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River would be eradicated for good.

The American side, however, completely refused to take any action against the terrorists, stressing that they began to surrender themselves voluntarily, meaning their actions were assessed in accordance with the provisions of the Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War.

In addition, the Americans failed to respond to a question previously asked by the Russians on why so many of the ISIS terrorists that supposedly left Syria on combat vehicles with heavy armament were regrouping in the Washington-led coalition-controlled territories and preparing for new attacks against the Syrian Army in the vicinity of Abu Kamal.

But this is not the only controversial thing related to the matter. In order to spare the terrorists from Russian and Syrian air strikes, the coalition's aircrafts attempted to interfere with the Russian Air Force's actions in the area.
See also:

U.S. makes deal for free passage of ISIS in Raqqa - but denies involvement, BBC video proves they lie

Putin and Erdogan meet to discuss further stabilizing Syria and post-conflict reconstruction

Mattis says U.S. won't leave Syria until ISIS stops fighting - doesn't define "fighting"

Read More...
Pistol

Best of the Web: Syrian army finds ISIS warehouses full of US-made lethal weapons


Sputnik
Wed, 15 Nov 2017 19:32 UTC
Daesh weapon
© Sputnik/ MORAD SAEEDDaesh weapon
According to the Syrian military source there were a lot of US-made weapons and military equipment of Western European and Israeli production. Apart from M-16 automatic rifles there were TOW anti-tank missile systems and 155 mm US field guns.

"There were also Hummers, which were either used to transport people or were stuffed with bombs inside ready to explode. Israeli intelligence reconnaissance aircraft and a modern Israeli protective suit for conducting sapper work have also been found," the source told Sputnik Arabic.

The source also said that tech for air and ground reconnaissance, satellite communications and bags with C-4 explosives were also discovered inside these warehouses.

Comment: The American government and its intelligence and military intelligence agencies support ISIS. They have done so for many years.

Let that sink in.

See also:

Read More...
Attention

Best of the Web: BBC uncovers secret deal between U.S. and ISIS: Free passage out of Raqqa for top terrorists, foreign fighters

Quentin Sommerville and Riam Dalati
BBC
Mon, 13 Nov 2017 16:50 UTC
bbc raqqa
The BBC has uncovered details of a secret deal that let hundreds of IS fighters and their families escape from Raqqa, under the gaze of the US and British-led coalition and Kurdish-led forces who control the city.

A convoy included some of IS's most notorious members and - despite reassurances - dozens of foreign fighters. Some of those have spread out across Syria, even making it as far as Turkey.

Lorry driver Abu Fawzi thought it was going to be just another job.

He drives an 18-wheeler across some of the most dangerous territory in northern Syria. Bombed-out bridges, deep desert sand, even government forces and so-called Islamic State fighters don't stand in the way of a delivery.

But this time, his load was to be human cargo. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters opposed to IS, wanted him to lead a convoy that would take hundreds of families displaced by fighting from the town of Tabqa on the Euphrates river to a camp further north.

The job would take six hours, maximum - or at least that's what he was told.

But when he and his fellow drivers assembled their convoy early on 12 October, they realised they had been lied to.

Instead, it would take three days of hard driving, carrying a deadly cargo - hundreds of IS fighters, their families and tonnes of weapons and ammunition.

Abu Fawzi and dozens of other drivers were promised thousands of dollars for the task but it had to remain secret.

Comment: See also: U.S. makes deal for free passage of ISIS in Raqqa - but denies involvement, BBC video proves they lie. As MoA points out in that article, the Americans had criticized the Syrians and Russians for making a similar deal with ISIS just months before. But in addition to "maintaining good relations between Kurds and Arabs" and "minimising casualties", the U.S./ISIS deal also served another purpose: maneuvering ISIS fighters into areas where they could do more damage to the Syrian army and civilian populations, not to mention letting ISIS fighters flee to other countries where they could keep the ISIS threat alive. U.S. policy towards ISIS is very much schizophrenic: the true believers want ISIS stamped out, but the cynics see it as a useful tool in destabilizing the world, thus creating the opening for American intervention.

The Turkish PM commented on the Raqqa deal:
"We told the United States: it is not a strategy for big states fighting against terrorism to use some terrorist groups in a struggle with others. Now nobody knows where these withdrawn terrorists will use their weapons against civilians - in Turkey, Europe, America or the whole world," Yildirim said.

The prime minister once again pointed out that Turkey considered the Syrian Kurdish Units terrorists.

"We see that armed Daesh terrorists left [Raqqa] being replaced by other terrorists from the Kurdish People's Protection Units [PYD]. Is that a smart policy? We turned out to be right again. But our aim is not to be right but to defeat terrorism," the prime minister added.


Read More...
Star of David

The Israel Lobby is slowly being dragged into public view

Jonathan Cook
MintPress News
Tue, 14 Nov 2017 21:54 UTC
netanyahu congress
© AP Photo/ Andrew Harnik"Silence, my subjects! I am not finished!"
There is growing hysteria about foreign interference in US and European politics. Is it not time for western states to show as much concern about the malign influence of Israel's lobbyists as they do about Russian hackers?

The scandal surrounding Priti Patel, who was forced to resign as Britain's international aid minister last week after secret meetings with Israeli officials during a "family holiday", offers a small, opaque window on the UK's powerful Israel lobby.

Patel's off-the-books meetings with 12 Israelis, including prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, were organized by a British lobbyist in violation of government rules requiring careful documentation of official meetings.

That is to prevent conflicts of interest and illicit lobbying by foreign powers.
Read More...
Yoda

Arabism for the 21st century: President Bashar al-Assad's most important speech on the future of Syria and the Middle East

Adam Garrie
The Duran
Wed, 15 Nov 2017 19:59 UTC
Bashir Al Assad
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad
President Bashar al-Assad has powerfully articulated the importance of renewed Arabism for a new era.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has given one of the most important speeches of his political career before the Arab Forum for Confronting the Zionist-US Reactionary Alliance and Supporting the Resistance of the Palestinian People, in Damascus.

President al-Assad's speech emphasised the importance of Arabism for the 21st century as the only proven school of thought and method of government that is capable of uniting peoples across the Arab world in a spirit that cherishes ancient traditions and allows for all varieties of modern progress.

In many ways, it helps to think of al-Assad's wide ranging speech as the pan-Arab version of President Xi Jinping's thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.
Read More...
Vader

EU interferes in Poland's business, tells them to "uphold European values," as if there are any


RT
Wed, 15 Nov 2017 21:22 UTC
poland protests
© Adam Stepien / Reuters
The EU Parliament has adopted a resolution calling on Poland to uphold common European values, warning that if Polish authorities refuse to comply it could lead to the suspension of voting rights in the EU Council.

The resolution calls on Warsaw to respect the right of freedom of assembly, to strongly condemn the "xenophobic and fascist march" that took place in Warsaw on November 11, and to provide free and accessible contraception without discrimination, while making emergency contraception available without medical prescription.

Polish President Andrzej Duda signed off on a law in June which turned emergency contraception into a prescription drug. Poland also has some of the most restrictive abortion laws in Europe, banning all terminations unless the pregnancy is the result of incest or rape, poses a health risk to the mother, or the fetus is severely deformed.

The resolution also calls on Poland to comply with the European Court of Justice's (ECJ) order to "immediately suspend large-scale logging" in the Bialowieza forest, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Activists and the EU claim Warsaw has ignored the ECJ's ruling to halt logging in the forest.
Read More...
Clock

Proving or disproving Russian hack of U.S. election would be very easy - so how come it hasn't been done?


Washington's Blog
Tue, 14 Nov 2017 21:31 UTC
NSA logo
© Reuters
It's newsworthy that CIA head Mike Pompeo recently met with Bill Binney - who designed the NSA's electronic surveillance system - about potential proof that the DNC emails were leaked rather than hacked.

It's also noteworthy that the usual suspects - Neocon warmongers such as Max Boot - have tried to discredit both Binney and Pompeo.

But there's a huge part of the story that the entire mainstream media is missing ...

Specifically, Binney says that the NSA has long had in its computers information which can prove exactly who hacked the DNC ... or instead prove that the DNC emails were leaked by a Democratic insider.

Remember - by way of background - that the NSA basically spies on everyone in America ... and stores the data long-term.

Comment: In a nutshell: they can, but they won't, because doing so would show that they're lying.

Read More...
Green Light

'Reality is what we make of it' - US War Secretary Mattis claims UN let US intervene in Syria


RT
Tue, 14 Nov 2017 21:33 UTC
Mattis
© Aaron P. Bernstein/ReutersUS Defense Secretary James Mattis
US Defense Secretary James Mattis has recently claimed that Washington received a mandate to operate in Syria from no less than the UN itself. The problem is the UN never did any such thing as it does not even have any legal capacity to do so.

The UN cannot sanction a foreign invasion of Syria or any other country because it is absolutely impossible under international law, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said, commenting on the issue. "The UN cannot do such things," he told the Russian media.

He went on to say that "Syria is a sovereign independent state," adding that "only the Syrian government can invite armed forces of the third countries onto its territory" while "the UN has no such right," as reported by Rossiyskaya Gazeta daily. The diplomat also said that "the fight against terrorism does not give any states or coalitions a free hand to establish their presence on Syrian territory."

International law indeed envisages no way for the UN or any other international body to sanction an invasion of one state's armed forces on the territory of another state. In fact, such actions are regarded as aggression under international law and are strictly prohibited.

UN General Assembly Resolution 3314 on the definition of aggression explicitly states that an "invasion or attack by the armed forces of a State of the territory of another State" as well as "any military occupation, however temporary" or "bombardment by the armed forces of a State against the territory of another State" is what particularly constitutes aggression.

However, all these facts did not prevent Mattis from claiming that it was the UN that sanctified the presence of the US troops on the Syrian territory without the consent of the Syrian government. "You know, the UN said that ... basically we can go after ISIS. And we're there to take them out," the US defense secretary said, referring to the US actions in Syria as he answered a journalist's question on Monday.

Comment: Lie about it long enough and it magically turns into 'my truth'.

Read More...
Arrow Down

US cuts funding to disarm explosives it dropped on Cambodia, Laos

Tony Caralucci
New Eastern Outlook
Wed, 15 Nov 2017 00:00 UTC
UXO in SE Asia
© Dansk Vietnamesisk ForeningThe daily threat.
In an article by Thai PBS titled, US cuts 2018 funding for demining operations in Cambodia, it's revealed that next year's meager $2 million in US government funding for demining operations of US unexploded ordnance (UXO) in eastern Cambodia leftover from the Vietnam War has been discontinued without warning or explanation.

The move caused confusion across Cambodia's government, as well as across partner nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in Cambodia participating in the US program.

Speculation over the move revolves around growing tensions between Washington and Phnom Penh as the United States desperately attempts to reassert itself in Asia Pacific, while Asian states - including Cambodia - continue to build closer and more constructive ties with Beijing at the expense of Washington's waning influence.

Cambodia has recently exposed and ousted a myriad of US-funded fronts posing as NGOs and independent media platforms executing a campaign of US-backed political subversion. This includes the disbanding of the Cambodia National Rescue opposition party and the arrest of its leader, Kem Sokha, who bragged of his role in a US conspiracy to overthrow the Cambodian government and install him into power.

Tensions in Cambodia represent a wider, regional trend where US footholds face increasing scrutiny and resistance as Washington's abuse of "NGOs," "rights advocacy," and "democracy promotion" is systematically exposed and rolled back.

Comment: Long after the wars are over, the US manages to keep on killing. Laos and Cambodia aren't the only countries under attack from US UXO threat. The Korean Peninsula is still cleaning up after hundreds of American raids littered the countryside with millions of active explosive devices.

See also: While Trump threatens N. Korea, the USA still struggles with its lethal legacy

Read More...
Attention

Fox News host Pirro lambastes Sessions in private meeting with Trump for lack of investigating Clinton

John Bowden
The Hill
Tue, 14 Nov 2017 09:05 UTC
Jeanine Pirro
© Conservative 101Judge Jeanine Pirro
During a private meeting with President Trump, Fox News host Jeanine Pirro reportedly tore into Attorney General Jeff Sessions for his refusal thus far to appoint a special prosecutor to probe former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over the Uranium One deal.

The New York Times reported Tuesday that Pirro met with Trump early this month, during which she "excoriated" the attorney general for not investigating Clinton, Trump's Democratic opponent in the 2016 presidential race.

The report follows weeks of critical coverage on Pirro's show, Justice with Judge Jeanine, and elsewhere on Fox, of the 2016 deal that allowed a Russian nuclear agency to purchase Uranium One, a Canadian company that owns access to uranium in the U.S. Clinton ran the State Department under former President Obama when the deal was approved by the interagency Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.

Pirro has also called for an investigation into reports that former FBI Director James Comey began drafting a letter exonerating Clinton from wrongdoing for her use of a private email server while at the State Department months before the investigation concluded.

"Jeff Sessions needs to follow his prosecutorial instincts and open a federal criminal investigation into the actions of Hillary Rodham Clinton and impanel a grand jury immediately," Pirro said in a September episode of her show. "This woman should not get a free pass because she lost an election. Her reign was one of bold, brazen in your face pay-to-play corruption."

Comment: See also: No surprise: Obama's conflict tanked the Clinton e-mail investigation

Read More...