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EU finalizes economic association agreement with Ukraine that counters WTO agreements

Ukraine and EU flags on Ukraine building
© Valentyn Ogirenko / Reuters
The European Union has formally concluded on Tuesday the association deal with Ukraine. The deal is expected to increase economic links between the two.

The deal comes into force on September, 1 and had troubles with ratification in Europe.

It was held up by a referendum in the Netherlands. The country rejected the deal by 61 percent of the vote, but the results were not obligatory for the Dutch government.

Russia has criticized the agreement, saying that it breaches the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Attention

White House says DNC coordinated with Ukraine, amid Trump-Russia collusion claims

Ukraine and US flags
© Valentyn Ogirenko / Reuters
As Russian collusion accusations continue to surround the Trump administration, White House deputy press secretary Sarah Sanders says the Democratic National Committee (DNC) is actually the guilty party because it coordinated with Ukraine.

During a Monday press briefing, Sanders was asked whether President Donald Trump was concerned that his son, Donald Trump Jr., held a meeting with a Russian lawyer during the campaign.

In response, Sanders said that "Don. Jr. took a very short meeting from which there was absolutely no follow-up," before suggesting that the Democrats were actually the ones who coordinated with a foreign government.

"Frankly, I think something that may make sense is looking at the Democrat [sic] National Committee coordinated opposition research directly with the Ukrainian embassy," she said.

War Whore

US State Dept 'bashes' Moscow for mistreating homeless in town that doesn't exist

US State Department Logo
A wordy State Department report slammed Moscow for underfunding a church-run shelter offering "food and housing" to the homeless in the Russian town of Kitezh - a mythical place that perished in a lake eight centuries ago, according to ancient legend.

Describing Russia's poor performance in protecting trafficking victims, a 2017 State Department report entitled 'Trafficking in Persons' alleges that Russian authorities "routinely detained and deported potential forced labor victims."

Some of the victims were "forced into prostitution for prostitution offenses," the authors stated. They added that the Russian government had even failed to finance rehabilitation for trafficking victims, saying "several privately run shelters remained closed due to lack of funding."

Handcuffs

German politicians demand crackdown on 'violent left-wing radicals' after G20 riots

Hamburg G20 protest
Riot police confront activists during G20 protests
A series of violent riots that engulfed the city of Hamburg during the G20 summit have provoked a wave of indignation among German politicians who demanded a radical change of approach toward violent protests, as well as to left-wing extremism.

"Germany's image in the international community has been severely damaged due to the incidents in Hamburg," German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel told Bild's weekend edition following three nights of violent clashes between the left-wing radicals and police in the German northern port city that hosted the G20 summit.

"All alleged political motives for this orgy of violence are full of deceit and should just serve as a disguise for the real motive of the offenders that [came] from all parts of Europe: violence in itself,"Gabriel added.

Chess

Rex Tillerson honors 'victims & defenders of Turkey' during failed coup attempt

Erdogan Turkey
© Reuters
The US Secretary of State has lauded the courage of the Turkish people who defended their country and democracy during last year's military coup attempt, which Ankara pinned on the followers of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen.

"Nearly a year ago, the Turkish people - brave men and women - stood up against coup plotters and defended their democracy," Rex Tillerson said during a speech at World Petroleum Congress in Istanbul.

"I take this moment to recognize their courage and honor the victims of the events of July 15, 2016. It was on that day that the Turkish people exercised their rights under the Turkish constitution, defended their place in a prosperous Turkey, and we remember those who were injured or died in that event," he added.

Info

China says 'don't shift responsibility' on pressuring N. Korea, isn't solely up to Beijing

Kim Jong Un
© Reuters
China has responded to repeated calls for Beijing to put pressure on North Korea, stating that such responsibility does not rest solely on China. President Trump has repeatedly urged for Beijing to use its influence as Pyongyang's sole economic lifeline.

"Recently, certain people, talking about the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, have been exaggerating and giving prominence to the so-called 'China responsibility theory'," Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a daily news briefing on Tuesday, as quoted by Reuters.

"I think this either shows lack of a full, correct knowledge of the issue, or there are ulterior motives for it, trying to shift responsibility.

"Asking others to do work, but doing nothing themselves is not OK," he added. "Being stabbed in the back is really not OK."

"The 'China responsibility theory' on the peninsula nuclear issue can stop," Geng said.

Bad Guys

Daesh confirms death of group leader al-Baghdadi

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
© AFP
Daesh terrorists confirmed the group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead, Al Sumaria TV channel reports citing a source in the Iraqi province of Nineveh.

According to the source, Daesh terrorists issued a brief statement in which they reported the death of their leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, as well as the name of the "new Caliph."

On June 16, the Russian Defense Ministry said al-Baghdadi was likely eliminated as a result of a Russian Aerospace Forces strike on a militant command post in the southern suburb of the city of Raqqa in late May. It noted that it was in the process of confirming the information through various channels.

Info

Russia satisfied with ceasefire outcome: Will continue to provide military support to both the Syrian government and the so-called 'opposition'

fighter jet
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov expressed Moscow's support for the efforts of unifying the ranks of the so-called "Syrian opposition" amid the war on terror, and its cooperation with the Syrian Army and the government.

During a press conference, held with his South Ossetian counterpart Dmitry Medoev, Lavrov stressed his country welcomes counter-terrorist efforts of all "Syrian opposition" platforms, the ones of Cairo and Riyadh-based groups including.

He also expressed satisfaction with the consent of Riyadh platform to participate in the forthcoming seventh round of Geneva talks on settlement of the Syrian crisis, that were previously attended only by Moscow and Cairo platforms, stressing that this is an important step further of which High Negotiations Committee is already aware.

Propaganda

Syria: The Alternet Grayzone of smug turncoats

Alternet Grayzone logo
Max Blumenthal is a well connected and known author who has done work on the Palestinian cause from a somewhat leftish perspective. He is also an arrogant and ignorant showman.

Blumenthal currently edits the Alternet Grayzone project. In their recent writings he and his co-writers profess to dislike the al-Qaeda led opposition in Syria. Yet it is exactly the same opposition they earlier vehemently supported.

Yesterday the Real News Network interviewed Blumethal on his recent piece about CNN's al-Qaeda promotion. The headline: Max Blumenthal on How the Media Covers Syria. During the interview Blumenthal laments the failure of progressive media on Syria:
In my opinion, they have abrogated their mission, which should be to challenge mainstream narratives and particularly imperial narratives on issues like Syria. I understand there are massive human rights abuses by the Syrian government, but that's not reason enough to not explore what the West's agenda, the Gulf agenda is for that country, what the consequences are, to actually get into the geopolitical issues. Instead, we've seen Democracy Now propagate generally a regime change narrative.

I don't believe they actually have a line on Syria. It's more a fear of actually taking on the official line. I haven't found a single article in the Intercept challenging the regime change line on Syria.
Blumenthal is outraged, OUTRAGED, that "progressive" media peddle the Syria conflict along "the official line".

Attention

Trump cannot improve relations with Russia when his government and the US media oppose improved relations

Trump and Putin
© AFP-Getty Images; AP
President Trump has been contradicted by his own government, which has lined up against him in favor of Hillary Clinton, the Democratic National Committee, and the Russophobic presstitute media that serves the military/security complex and the neoconservatives.

I am afraid that The Saker and Finian Cunningham are correct. Nothing can come of Trump's meeting with Putin, because, as Cunningham puts it,
"Trump doesn't have freedom or real power. The real power brokers in the US will ensure that the Russophobia campaign continues, with more spurious allegations of Moscow interfering to subvert Western democracies. Trump will continue to live under a cloud of media-driven suspicions. And thus the agenda of regime change against Syria and confrontation with Russia will also continue. Trump's personal opinions on these matters and towards Vladimir Putin are negligible - indeed dispensable by the deep powers-that-be."
Cunningham points out that instead of lauding the meeting as the beginning of the process to defuse the high tensions between the two major nuclear powers, the US media denounced Trump for being civil to Putin in the meeting.