Puppet MastersS


Rocket

Advanced Russia-Made Air-Defense System S-350 Vityaz Deployed in Central Syria


FARS
Mon, 25 Sep 2017 20:49 UTC
An advanced model of a Russia-made medium-range surface-to-air missile system
© FNAAn advanced model of a Russia-made medium-range surface-to-air missile system was stationed in Hama province earlier this month to reinvigorate the air-defense capability of the Syrian government forces in the region, a Russian news website reported on Sunday
The Arabic-language website of Russia's state news agency, Sputnik, quoted Russkaya Vesna website as reporting that the Russia-made mid-range guided missile system S-350 Vityaz was transferred to the town of Masyaf in Hama province via the Tartus port earlier this month to reinvigorate Syrian air-defense units' capability to guard the country's airspace.

The Arabic sputnik said that the S-300 anti-aircraft system has been replaced with S-350 Vityaz system.

S-350 Vityaz enjoys 12 tracing missiles instead of 4 missile in previous system, sputnik said, adding that the S-350 Vityaz's management and control system automation is superior to its older counterpart.
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Star of David

Israel targets the UN's illegal settlements database - fears companies involved in constructing, supporting occupation will be targeted for boycotts

Ben White
Middle East Monitor
Fri, 22 Sep 2017 18:06 UTC
Israel apartheid wall
© Muammar Awad/ApaimagesView of a Palestinian refugee camp behind Israel's apartheid wall in east Jerusalem on 3 December 2014.
The Israeli government and its allies are mobilising to try and thwart a United Nations list of companies complicit in illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt).

These efforts are taking place in parallel to significant initiatives by figures within and outside of the Israeli government to normalise the presence of the settlements, moves which could contribute towards a future, formal annexation of sections of the West Bank.

On 24 March 2016 the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) adopted a resolution by 32 votes to 0 (with 15 abstentions) that called for the establishment of "a database of all business enterprises involved" in settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), to be updated annually.

While some saw the vote as "a symbolic victory for the Palestinians," others went further, hailing it a "landmark decision" after "years of toothless UN condemnations of settlements". The Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement praised the resolution for affirming that "companies must be held to account for their participation in Israeli violations".

In the past 18 months, preparatory work has moved ahead, albeit with delays. According to Fox News, in December 2016, the UN allocated $138,700 for the work required to establish the list. While the original publication date in February 2017 was put back, it now appears that UN human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al-Hussein intends to publish the list by the end of the year.

Comment:

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Chess

Russia to set up new military base in Deir Ezzur


FARS
Mon, 25 Sep 2017 20:24 UTC
Russian soldier walking with dog
© FNAWestern media sources reported that Russia is about to establish a new military base in Deir Ezzur that will be the Russian forces' largest base in the war-hit country after Humeimim airbase in Lattakia
The Arabic-language al-Ahd news website quoted western media sources as reporting that Russia is to set up a new large military base in Deir Ezzur due to its reginal and international strategic importance.

Al-Ahd added that the long distance between the Russia-run Humeimim airbase and Eastern or Central Syria and the superior capabilities and features of Deir Ezzur airbase are two other reasons for Moscow's decision.

In the meantime, proximity of Deir Ezzur to the US bases in Iraq and Syria's main oilfields, on which Russia is keen to invest, have been mentioned among other reasons, al-Ahd pointed out.

The website went on to say that Moscow's decision to set up a military airbase in Deir Ezzur is also mainly aimed at preventing the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces from crossing the Euphrates River to rush towards South that is home to the richest oilfields in Syria.

Comment: See also: Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Konashenkov: Aerial footage shows US forces present in Daesh-held areas in Syria

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Bad Guys

Pentagon threatens N. Korea with destruction for 'provocative actions'


RT
Mon, 25 Sep 2017 17:01 UTC
B1B Lancer
© U.S. Air ForcesA B1B Lancer
The Pentagon said it would provide President Donald Trump with options to deal with Pyongyang if the provocations continue. Earlier, North Korea's foreign minister said his country reserves the right to shoot down US bombers in international airspace.

"If North Korea does not stop their provocative actions, you know, we will make sure that we provide options to the President to deal with North Korea," Pentagon spokesman Colonel Robert Manning told reporters on Monday.

The statement follows remarks by North Korea's top diplomat at the UN on Monday, who said Donald Trump's tweet that leader Kim Jong-un "won't be around much longer" was a declaration of war by the United States.

Comment: For all their bluster it's becoming increasingly clear that, as the Duran reports, the US is impotent in the face of N. Korea's threats.
Sergey Lavrov has stated that the "mutually assured destruction" model of deterrence will ultimately work out in the interests of peace.

The Russian Foreign Minister stated, "Americans won't strike Korea, because not only do they suspect, but know for sure that Pyongyang has nuclear weapons".

He continued, "Regarding this issue, President Putin has repeatedly said it was impossible to imagine that the US or someone else has 100 percent information on all of the (nuclear) objects".
So, while the US uses tensions to justify an increased military presence in Asia, they do it at the cost of letting little N. Korea prove to the world that the 'Master of the Universe' is naked.

Further reading: What You're Not Hearing From The U.S. Media About North Korea's Missile Tests

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Info

Moscow insists Russian forces 'did not target Kurdish SDF units' near Deir ez-Zor


RT
Mon, 25 Sep 2017 17:01 UTC
Deir ez-Zor
© LOUAI BESHARA / AFPA general view of the eastern Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor
The Russian Air Force did not perform airstrikes on Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) near Syrian city of Deir Ez-Zor, the Defense Ministry said. The SDF earlier accused Russia of repeatedly targeting its positions near a major gas field.

While the Russian Air Force operates in the area supporting the advances of Syrian government forces, it performs strikes solely on terrorist positions, ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said.

"In the course of the Syrian Army operation to exterminate the last [Islamic State or IS, formerly ISIS] stronghold in Dei ez-Zor, the Russian Air Force performs precision strikes on terrorist-held objects, according to intelligence confirmed through several channels. The strikes are performed on detected IS positions, which fire at Syrian troops, as well as on terrorist reserves coming from the rear,"Konashenkov said.

Comment: Further reading: The momentous Syrian victory in Deir Ezzor

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Chess

Lavrov: Moscow will not force US & Ukraine to accept Russian proposal for UN mission to Donbass


RT
Mon, 25 Sep 2017 17:13 UTC
UN Peacekeepers Ukraine
© Kenny Katombe / Reuters
If Washington and Kiev are reluctant to engage in comprehensive talks on the Russian proposal to deploy UN peacekeepers to the war-torn Donbass region in eastern Ukraine, Moscow "would not force them," Sergey Lavrov said.

"We have made the proposal and provided reasoning for it in all ways possible, including through Russian President Vladimir Putin. We have not received any concrete written proposals regarding our initiative from anyone. If they do not want to discuss it, what would we do? We would not force them, would we?" Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov toldNTV on Sunday.

The statement came in response to a reporter's question on how Russia should react to US and Ukrainian leaders refusing to support Russia's idea of sending a UN mission to Donbass.

Comment: Further reading: Ukraine rejects Russian proposal for UN peacekeepers to protect OSCE observers

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USA

Russian officials expect US to step up election meddling as 2018 election nears


RT
Mon, 25 Sep 2017 17:13 UTC
Hacking technology computers programming election
© Dado Ruvic / Reuters
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov says his colleagues expect the US to intensify activities aimed at destabilizing Russia as the 2018 presidential election nears, in particular by increasing funding of various protests.

"In general, we can forecast that as the presidential election gets nearer, the attempts to influence the situation in our country, to undermine stability from the inside, will not wane, but rather get stronger," Sergey Ryabkov said at the Monday session of the Upper House commission for protection of Russian sovereignty.

"We cannot exclude that a part of the funds allocated under the new laws will be spent for stimulating protest activities in our country," he added.

Comment: While there's zero evidence of Russian interference in the US elections, there is certainly evidence that the US is busy messing with Russia's:
In Russia, from 2015 to the envisaged 2018, various states spent more than $80 million (4.5 billion rubles) to affect the Russian elections, the deputy director of the Institute for Strategic Studies and Forecasts of the Russian People's Friendship University, Nikita Danyuk estimated.

The data is presented in the report "On the facts of interference in the information sovereignty of Russia before the presidential elections."

The expert explained that there are three channels of financing through which foreigners can influence the processes inside Russia and try to destabilize the public opinion situation: foreign media holdings, sponsoring in-Russian media and supporting so-called independent Russian journalists.
But of course this is just business as usual:

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Георгиевская ленточка

Dramatic details emerge of Russia pounding U.S.-backed proxies who attacked 29 Russian military police in Idlib province

Michael Bateman
Russia Insider
Mon, 25 Sep 2017 17:48 UTC
Russia ambushed Idlib Al-Nusra
© Vesti News/YoutubreThe fighting was intense
Interviews with Russian troops caught in the fight reveal that it was a fierce and dangerous engagement - plus a Russian sub got involved, launching a barrage of cruise missiles

Writing about Russia as alternative media can be a surreal experience.

How is it possible that the leading story across Russian mainstream media about an attempt by 'American secret services' to capture 29 Russian military police, which led to a fierce 7 hour long battle, involving, it now turns out, a Russian submarine firing cruise missiles, goes completely unreported in the western media?

The effort turned into a rout of the Islamic militants, and their American handlers, with devastating losses.
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Radar

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Konashenkov: Aerial footage shows US forces present in Daesh-held areas in Syria


Sputnik
Mon, 25 Sep 2017 19:50 UTC
US armored vehicles
© AP Photo/ Hussein MallaUS armored vehicles past near a destroyed bridge on a road that links to Raqqa city, northeast Syria
The photographs that the Russian Defense Ministry published on Sunday on its Facebook page provide compelling evidence that the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the US troops that support them are present in Syria's areas held by the violent extremist group Daesh, the ministry said Monday.

Russian Defense Ministry's spokesman Mj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Monday that Moscow received no response from the United States or the SDF on the issue of the photographs' revelation by Russia.

Comment: Syrian opposition Popular Diplomacy Movement secretary and member of Astana opposition platform Mahmoud Afandi told Sputnik that the absence of signs of clashes with Daesh (banned in Russia) terrorists in the footholds previously set up by the Daesh militants and currently occupied by the US Army can mean the coordination between the United States and Daesh.
"It's very easy to explain. The United States, the European Union and Turkey have their own people in Daesh, so they can coordinate with them their [Daesh] withdrawals without military activities," Afandi said.


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Attention

What's behind Trump's UN speech? Much more than you think

Haneul Na'avi
Global Village Space
Mon, 25 Sep 2017 00:00 UTC
Trump UN
© ABC.net.au
US president Donald Trump's intimidating, hawkish UN General Assembly speech was, at best, an unflinching reaffirmation to US jingoism, despite his election promises to do the opposite. Trump hurled his 41-minute tirade of diplomatic gaffs and gas lighting at self-determined governments -- Syria, Iran, Cuba and Venezuela -- and brazenly guilt-tripped the United Nations in a manner not seen since Hitler's 1937 address regarding the defunct League of Nations.

Despite the inconsolable depravity of his words, one should focus more on their timing and intentions in order to decipher the US president's subversive agenda.

Trump's UN call for 'unity and obedience' reveals several pressing matters for the US military dictatorship behind him, who grow more desperate than ever to fulfill their geopolitical agendas sat behind the claptrap of 'human rights, peace, democracy, and national sovereignty'.

It has been firmly established that the current US administration is solely in charge of managing eroding dollar diplomacy around the world, and, in the wake of the 9th annual BRICS Summit in Xiamen and flagship Belt and Road Summit held in Hong Kong, are terrified of a massive global divestment in dollar-denominated oil driven by Chinese-led development. Nearly Trump's entire cabinet-a roster consisting of seasoned military generals-allows him more intimate coordination with its bloated coercive apparatus (military) to enforce this dollar hegemony.

Underneath its harsh, superstructural rhetoric, the Trump administration is attempting to seize two strategic oil shipping routes, the Strait of Hormuz and the Strait of Malacca, in order to usurp the lion's share of global oil trade from the Asian continent and underpin its petrodollar hegemony.

Comment: It always seems to come down to oil, money and power. This time is no different, except the stakes are higher, the players more powerful and the outcome potentially annihilating. While there is an ongoing attention to details and machinations, the big picture is much more revealing.

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