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Bizarro Earth

Why Congress won't agree to stop arming terrorists - they are too useful


Washingtons Blog
Wed, 28 Jun 2017 15:51 UTC
Tulsi Gabbard
© CNNCongresswoman Tulsi Gabbard
The director of the National Security Agency under Ronald Reagan - Lt. General William Odom said in 2008:
By any measure the US has long used terrorism. In '78-79 the Senate was trying to pass a law against international terrorism - in every version they produced, the lawyers said the US would be in violation.
(audio here).
General Odom is absolutely is absolutely right ...

And because the U.S. itself uses terrorism, it's very hesitant to get others in trouble for using terrorism.

And that's why Congress is refusing to pass a bill agreeing to stop funding terrorists. Specifically, Senator Rand Paul and Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard introduced bills to whose simple name accurately describes what they want: The "Stop Arming Terrorists Act".

But neither bill looks like it has any chance of being passed right now:
  • The House bill has only 14 co-sponsors, and was given a mere 6% chance of passing by Skopos Labs
  • The Senate bill has NO co-sponsors, and was given a measly 3% chance of passing by Skopos Labs
How pathetic is that?
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Bullseye

Paul Craig Roberts: It's the presstitutes, not Russia, who interfered in US presidential election

Paul Craig Roberts
paulcraigroberts.org
Wed, 28 Jun 2017 15:48 UTC
presstitutes
Unlike Oliver Stone, who knew how to interview Vladimir Putin, Megyn Kelly did not. Thus, she made a fool of herself, which is par for her course.

Now the entire Western media has joined Megyn in foolishness, or so it appears from a RT report. James O'Keefe has senior CNN producer John Bonifield on video telling O'Keefe that CNN's anti-Russia reporting is purely for ratings:
"It's mostly bullshit right now. Like, we don't have any big giant proof." CNN's Bonifield is reported to go on to say that "our CIA is doing shit all the time, we're out there trying to manipulate governments."
And, of course, the American people, the European peoples, and the US and European governments are being conditioned by the "Russia did it" storyline to distrust Russia and to accept whatever dangerous and irresponsible policy toward Russia that Washington comes up with next.
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Chess

Dispatch from the Middle East: US military buildup in Eastern Syria all about thwarting Iran-Syria-Iraq alliance

Sharmine Narwani
The American Conservative
Wed, 28 Jun 2017 15:34 UTC
Concept of military aggression in Middle East
© krill_makarov/Shutterstock
As the drive to push ISIS out of its remaining territories in Syria and Iraq rapidly advances, the U.S. and its allied forces have entrenched themselves in the southeastern Syrian border town of al-Tanaf, cutting off a major highway linking Damascus to Baghdad.

Defeating ISIS is Washington's only stated military objective inside Syria. So what are those American troops doing there, blocking a vital artery connecting two Arab allied states in their own fight against terrorism?
"Our presence in al-Tanaf is temporary," says Col. Ryan Dillon, spokesman for the Combined Joint Task Force of Operation Inherent Resolve (CTFO-OIR), the U.S.-led campaign against ISIS, via phone from Baghdad. "Our primary reason there is to train partner forces from that area for potential fights against ISIS elsewhere...and to maintain security in that border region."

Dillon adds for emphasis: "Our fight is not with the (Syrian) regime."
But since May 18, when U.S. airstrikes targeted Syrian forces and their vehicles approaching al-Tanaf, American forces have shot down two Syrian drones and fired on allied Syrian troops several times, each time citing "self-defense." In that same period, however, it doesn't appear that the al-Tanaf-based U.S.-backed militants have even once engaged in combat with ISIS.
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Bomb

France sees Syria opportunity through closer dialogue with Russia

John Irish
Reuters
Thu, 29 Jun 2017 15:36 UTC
Emmanuel Macron walks next to Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian
© REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes
France said on Thursday it saw a chance to break the stalemate in Syria's war as Russia now seemed to accept there could be no military solution and preconditions set by some opponents of President Bashar al-Assad had been dropped.

The election of President Emmanuel Macron has provided an opening for Paris to re-examine its Syria policy, with the view that the previous government's stance that Assad must step down was too intransigent and an obstacle to peacemaking.

Macron last week reversed France's stance on the future of Assad, saying he saw no legitimate successor at this time and the priority was to prevent Syria becoming a failed state. The United States has also backed away this year from an insistence on Assad's departure to allow a political solution.

Assad has held on with Russian and Iranian military support in a six-year war with rebels and Islamist militants that has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced millions.
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Network

Putin aide: Russia agrees on contract to sell S-400 missile systems to Turkey


RT
Thu, 29 Jun 2017 15:31 UTC
s 400 missile system
© Sergey Malgavko / Sputnik
A contract with Ankara to deliver cutting-edge Russian anti-aircraft S-400 missile systems has been "agreed upon," but the consultations on financial aspects of the planned deal are still being discussed.

"The contract is agreed upon, everything is clear, the issue of a loan has not been resolved yet," Russian President Vladimir Putin's aide on military-technical cooperation, Vladimir Kozhin, said at the 7th International Maritime Defense Show in St. Petersburg on Thursday.

There are "no obstacles" to the delivery of the missile system to Turkey connected with its NATO membership, Kozhin added.
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Info

Pentagon reports more 'confident and capable' Russia could emerge over next decade


RT
Thu, 29 Jun 2017 15:20 UTC
Russian acrobatic jets
© Maxim Shemetov / Sputnik
A more confident and capable Russia could emerge within the next decade, according to a US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) report. It goes on to describe the Russian military as "rapidly" advancing.

The report, released by the Pentagon's intelligence arm on Wednesday, paints Moscow as being increasingly wary of the US.

It specifically notes the Kremlin's "deep and abiding distrust of US efforts to promote democracy around the world and what it perceives as a US campaign to impose a single set of global values."

"The Kremlin is convinced the United States is laying the groundwork for regime change in Russia, a conviction further reinforced by the events in Ukraine," the report states.
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War Whore

US General states the obvious - "US won't leave Syria after ISIS defeated"


Russia Insider
Thu, 29 Jun 2017 15:17 UTC
us stryker brigade
The three-star US general in command of American forces in Syria and Iraq says the US will leaves Syria as soon as ISIS is defeated, but not really. Actually, they will stick around, because after the ISIS state is defeated there will still be ISIS guerrillas to deal with:
Gen. Townsend promoted a young officer to first lieutenant on Wednesday -- and he acknowledged to CBS News that U.S. troops won't be leaving Syria any time soon.

"I think U.S. troops will start leaving Syria when ISIS is defeated," Townsend said.

But will ISIS turn into an insurgency when they've lost all their territory?

"I think that's the next stage of ISIS," Townsend said.

"We call that ISIS 2.0 -- an insurgency, rural. So I think we'll still be here dealing with that problem set for a while."
But will Americans only fight ISIS guerrillas? What about any "Assadist" or Baathist, or any kind of pro-government/pro-Syrian guerrillas? We can't imagine that those will be given a pass if they emerge. Knowing the US they will be demonized and hounded—for defying a foreign military in their own country.

It looks like the US may be in for another occupation of another Middle Eastern Arab country against native guerrillas. And it looks like Syrians may be in for a lengthy US occupation of the eastern half of their country.

Comment: The reason the US will remain in Syria indefinitely has nothing to do with ISIS, just like its purpose in staying in Iraq and Afghanistan has nothing to do with terrorists. This is about creating vassal states in areas of geopolitical strategic importance. The US just uses terrorists as an excuse to illegally invade and occupy countries that they wish to control. It will attempt to do the same thing in Syria, but unlike Iraq or Afghanistan that's going to fail spectacularly with the presence of the Russian military in Syria.

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Info

Tit for tat: Moscow gladly prepares to extend food ban in response to EU sanctions


RT
Thu, 29 Jun 2017 15:06 UTC
Russian supermarket
© Valeriy Melnikov / Sputnik
The Russian government wants to prolong countermeasures on the European Union for another 18 months, said Russia's Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. His statement comes a day after the EU extended its anti-Russia economic sanctions.

"Of course, we will react adequately. Yesterday we discussed this issue with President Vladimir Putin and the government will submit a proposal to extend the ban for another year - until December 31, 2018," Medvedev said on Thursday during a cabinet meeting.

He expressed regret that "European partners continue this not very constructive line" toward Russia.

On Wednesday, the European Union prolonged economic sanctions against Russia by six months. Restrictions on business with Russian energy, defense, and financial sectors will remain until January 31, 2018.
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Attention

Sweden welcomes returning Islamic State terrorists by giving them protected identities

Chris Tomlinson
Breitbart
Tue, 27 Jun 2017 14:56 UTC
happy Islamic state terrorist
Hundreds of Swedish residents who went to fight for the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria have now returned to Europe and the Swedish government has given several of them "protected identities" to keep locals from finding out who they are.

The vast majority of the returning jihadist fighters keep a very low profile once they get back to Sweden as many have committed terrorist offences while in the Middle East. 27-year-old Walad Ali Yousef is one returnee that the government has given a special status protecting his identity, normally given to people under serious threat Expressen reports.

Mr Yousef, originally from the heavily migrant-populated city of Malmo, spoke to the newspaper complaining he had difficulty finding a job. "I am looking for many jobs but can not get one because my pictures are out there," he said.

Comment: Sweden has clearly gone off the rails on this one. Swedish lawmakers have become so 'open minded' that their brains have fallen out.

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MIB

MI5 tried to exchange bribes to Russian bankers for espionage against Russian officials

John Helmer - Dances With Bears
Russia Insider
Tue, 27 Jun 2017 12:25 UTC
Andrei Ryjenko
Andrei Ryjenko
MI5, according to testimony in open court, offered a Russian-British banker the opportunity to keep his money and avoid prosecution if he agreed to spy for the British against Russian foreign intelligence service agents.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the government-owned bank established in London in 1991 to finance market boosting projects in the former Soviet Union, has been secretly aiding UK and US intelligence services in espionage targeted at Russia. The US is a 10% shareholder in the bank, the UK holds an 8.7% stake; Russia, 4%.

The disclosure appears in the records of a trial this month at the Central Criminal Court in London of Andrei Ryjenko (Рыженко, usually Anglicized as Ryzhenko), a senior banker at the EBRD who is a dual Russian-British citizen. Early in June, Ryjenko was convicted of taking and then laundering $3.5 million in concealed bribes for helping applications to the EBRD for loans and equity investments from two Russian oil and gas companies win approval for a total of $275 million. MI5, according to testimony in open court, offered Ryjenko the opportunity to keep his money and avoid prosecution if he agreed to spy for the British against Russian foreign intelligence service (SVR) agents who, MI5 told Ryjenko, were under cover in London. Ryjenko refused for several months. He was then arrested and subsequently tried. On June 20, Ryjenko was sentenced to six years in jail.
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