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Anonymous US official acknowledges no evidence of Russian involvement in Syria chemical attack but concludes Russia was complicit


PressTV
Tue, 11 Apr 2017 12:22 UTC
Pentagon
The United States military has concluded that Russians knew ahead of time that chemical weapons would be used in the recent attack in northwestern Syria, according to a senior US official.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity since he wasn't authorized to speak publicly on intelligence issues, told The Associated Press on Monday that a Russian surveillance drone was flying over a hospital where victims of the April 4 attack were being brought for treatment.

The senior official claimed that after the drone left the place a Russian-manufactured fighter aircraft bombed the hospital in an attempt to cover up the usage of controversial weaponry.

The United States, however, has no proof of Russian involvement in the actual chemical attack that left more than 80 people dead and dozens others injured in the town of Khan Shaykhun in Idlib province, the official acknowledged.
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Chess

T-Rex arrives in Moscow amid US manufactured tensions


RT
Tue, 11 Apr 2017 11:57 UTC
Tillerson Lavrov
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will arrive in Moscow on Tuesday to discuss Syria with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov. The visit comes as recent US strikes on a Syrian base were followed by hints of sanctioning Russia for supporting Assad.

While in Moscow, Tillerson is expected to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday, with the Syrian crisis being the key issue on the agenda. This is the former oil executive's first visit to Russia as Secretary of State.

Russia expects a constructive dialogue free of confrontational rhetoric, the Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday ahead of the meeting. Moscow is willing to discuss all matters of mutual concern raised by Tillerson and is ready "for any course of events," the ministry noted. It would, however, prefer "to work on de-escalating the international tensions, not heightening them," it said, adding, "We do hope that the American side wants the same."

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Info

South Ossetia votes for new president and new name, hopes to join Russia

RIA Novosti - translated by J. Arnoldski
Fort Russ News
Mon, 10 Apr 2017 12:12 UTC
South Ossetia flags
On Sunday, April 9th, the Republic of South Ossetia held presidential elections. The registered candidates for the post of president were Speaker of Parliament Anatoly Bibilov, President Leonid Tibilov, and KGB officer Alan Gagloev. The head of the Central Electoral Commission of the republic, Bella Plieva, has announced that Bibilov has won 57.98% of the votes in the first round, Tibilov 30%, and Gagloev 11.01%.

The results of the South Ossetian elections, according to the director of the Center for Political Conjuncture, Aleksey Chesnakov, are a signal of closer ties between the republic and the Russian Federation.

"The results of the elections in South Ossetia should be considered a signal for further convergence between South Ossetia and Russia. Anatoly Bibilov is known for his consistent position on South Ossetia directly becoming part of Russia, and as an active supporter of a new agreement with the Russian Federation. Therefore, it cannot be ruled out that there will be new stimuli for the countries to further integrate," Chesnakov explained.
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Blackbox

Was Donald Trump's Syrian missile strike a 'massive blunder'?

Alexander Mercouris
The Duran
Tue, 11 Apr 2017 11:37 UTC
Trump
© Politico
By launching his missile strike the President has destroyed his reputation for consistency, emboldened his enemies and dismayed his friends.

Following Napoleon's murder in March 1804 of the Duc d'Enghien, Napoleon's chief of police, Joseph Fouché, said of the murder "C'est pire qu'un crime, c'est une faute" - "It was worse than a crime; it was a blunder." President Trump's missile strike on Sharyat air base in Syria was like the Duc d'Enghien's murder, not just a crime but a blunder.

Reasons given for why President Trump ordered the missile strike differ.

Comment: Also see:

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Smiley

Russian Embassy in Britain trolls Louise Mensch & other Russophobic conspiracy nuts

Adam Garrie
The Duran
Tue, 11 Apr 2017 11:37 UTC
Alexander Yakovenko
Alexander Yakovenko
Humour in the face of inanity.

Under Ambassador Alexander Yakovenko, the Russian Embassy in the UK has shown that it is not only deeply connected to the world of social media, but also that the embassy staff take the almost daily Russophobic attacks from the mainstream media, government elites and random nutters with a brilliant sense of humour.

It is becoming increasingly clear that either through default or by design, Trump's sudden reinvention as a lightweight neo-con will push the Russiagate scandal to the political back-burner.

Comment: Further reading:

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Snakes in Suits

Oil major Shell admits dealing with Nigerian money launderer


RT
Tue, 11 Apr 2017 12:02 UTC
Nigerian oil field worker
© Akintunde Akinleye / Reuters
The Anglo-Dutch multinational Shell has admitted it had dealings with a convicted money launderer to gain access to a vast oil field in Nigeria.

The company had earlier denied knowing the money it paid (together with Italian oil firm ENI) as part of a $1.3 billion deal would end up in the hands of Nigeria's former oil minister Dan Etete. He was later convicted of money laundering in a separate case.
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Info

Snowden docs contain secret report about 2001 US spy plane landing in China


RT
Tue, 11 Apr 2017 11:38 UTC
US Navy plane China Hainan
© Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. / US Navy / Getty ImagesThe damaged US Navy plane at Lingshui Airfield on June 19, 2001 in Hainan, China.
A Navy-NSA report into the 2001 mid-air crash and subsequent emergency landing of a US spy plane at a Chinese airfield - which led to an international standoff and accusations of leaked military secrets - has been released in full online.

The 117-page top secret report, completed three months after the incident, was included in the trove of NSA documents obtained by whistleblower Edward Snowden in 2013.

In 2003, journalists obtained a redacted version of the report in response to an FOI request, in which investigators found it was "highly probable" that China gained access to undestroyed classified material.
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Mr. Potato

Nobody listens as Boris Johnson stamps feet for "very punitive sanctions" against Russia at G7


RT
Tue, 11 Apr 2017 11:44 UTC
Boris Johnson
© Alkis Konstantinidis / ReutersBritish Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.
British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson's mission to introduce fresh sanctions against Russia over Syria looks dead in the water after the G7 group of nations blocked the idea.

Johnson wanted the G7 to agree to "very punitive sanctions" and issue a joint declaration asking Russia to end its support for Syrian President Bashar Assad in response to last week's alleged chemical attack in Syria's Idlib province.

Instead, while the G7 nations meeting in Italy did agree there was no solution to the Syria crisis with Assad in power, proposals to target sanctions at senior military leaders were sidelined.

A delay on implementing sanctions will be in place until there is "hard and irrefutable evidence" over the alleged chemical attack. Russia has consistently denied Syrian forces used chemical weapons, insisting the incident at Khan Sheikhoun was caused by a hit on a rebel chemical weapons plant.
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USA

Is the American Empire on the verge of collapse?

John W. Whitehead
The Rutherford Institute
Mon, 10 Apr 2017 03:35 UTC
Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes... known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few.... No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare. — James Madison
American Empire Collapse
© A Government of Wolves
Waging endless wars abroad (in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and now Syria) isn't making America—or the rest of the world—any safer, it's certainly not making America great again, and it's undeniably digging the U.S. deeper into debt.

In fact, it's a wonder the economy hasn't collapsed yet.

Indeed, even if we were to put an end to all of the government's military meddling and bring all of the troops home today, it would take decades to pay down the price of these wars and get the government's creditors off our backs. Even then, government spending would have to be slashed dramatically and taxes raised.

You do the math.
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Bad Guys

Warmonger knives are coming out for Tulsi Gabbard for daring to question Syrian war frenzy

Alex Christoforou
The Duran
Tue, 11 Apr 2017 00:32 UTC
U.S. Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard
U.S. Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard

Liberal left attacks on Tulsi Gabbard for having the audacity to question the Syria war frenzy.

No room for free speech. No dissent. No skepticism. Neocons, Democrats, liberal leftists...all united to remove Assad, prop up ISIS and begin WW3.

The warmonger knives are coming out for Gabbard in what is looking like Iraq WMDs all over again.


Comment: As one of the few sane voices in Congress, Tulsi Gabbard is under fire for having the courage speak the inconvenient truth:
Speaking live on CNN in the aftermath of the US missile strike against the Syrian airfield near Homs, Gabbard said she remained "skeptical" of the allegations, and reminded the host of the destructive invasions in Libya and Iraq, the latter based on a false intelligence pretext.

"Whether the President or the Pentagon or the Secretary of State say they have the evidence the fact remains that they have not brought that evidence before Congress, they have not brought that evidence before the American people and have not sought authorization from Congress to launch this military attack on another country," Gabbard said.

She went on to argue that the US has been waging an illegal proxy war aimed at toppling the Syrian government "for years," which has only resulted in the "suffering of the Syrian people, hundreds of thousands of people dead, millions of refugees and the strengthening of terrorist groups in Syria like Al-Qaeda and ISIS."


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