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'Unique people': Putin reminisces about the KGB, wishes deep-cover agents well


RT
Sun, 25 Jun 2017 02:42 UTC
2Putins
© BBC/Newsline
Russian President Vladimir Putin has for the first time revealed that he had worked closely with illegal resident operatives during his time with Soviet intelligence. Describing such agents as "unique" individuals, he praised their tremendous sacrifice.

Putin joined the KGB (Committee for State Security) in 1975, serving in Dresden from 1985 to 1990. The Russian president retired from the intelligence service with the rank of lieutenant colonel when the USSR collapsed, but briefly served as head of the KGB's successor, FSB, in the late '90s. However, details of his service profile remained a mystery for decades until Putin's Saturday interview on Russia-1 TV channel. (See below for the official translation.)



Comment: According to Wiki: the KGB operated legal and illegal espionage residencies in target countries where a legal resident gathered intelligence while based at the Soviet embassy or consulate, and, if caught, was protected from prosecution by diplomatic immunity. The illegal resident spied, unprotected by diplomatic immunity, and worked independently of Soviet diplomatic and trade missions. In its early history, the KGB valued illegal spies more than legal spies, because illegal spies infiltrated their targets with greater ease.

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Nuke

Los Alamos lab under fed investigation for mislabeling and shipping nuclear materials by air


RT
Sun, 25 Jun 2017 01:22 UTC
yellow jacket nuclear container
© National Nuclear Security Administration / Flickr
Federal regulators are investigating an "absolutely unacceptable" violation of improper handling of nuclear material after the mislabeled cargo was sent on commercial cargo flights to two laboratories in the United States.

Last week, unknown quantities of "special nuclear material" were sent from Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California and the Savannah River Site in South Carolina via "commercial air cargo" in violation of federal regulations.

Originally, the nuclear matter to both labs was packaged and "containerized" for commercial ground cargo transportation. But it later emerged that the documents by Los Alamos National Laboratory were prepared for air shipment in violation of well-defined federal regulations, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said in a statement.

While the packaging was not breached and the nuclear material not contaminated during its transportation, the NNSA announced that it is now investigating the case.

Comment: Not a mere slip up, someone made this decision.

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Stock Up

Russians' real incomes up by 3% in May - Russian finance minister


TASS
Sun, 25 Jun 2017 17:40 UTC
According to preliminary data of Rosstat, real disposable incomes of the Russian population decreased by 1.8% in January-May 2017 on the same period last year

Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov
© Valery Sharifulin / TASS
Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov
Real incomes of Russians went up by three percent in May, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said on Sunday.
"Since the beginning of this year, incomes of our citizens have begun to grow," he said in an interview with the Rossiya-1 television channel. "Statistics demonstrate that real earnings, especially in May, were growing by three present."
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Rocket

Sweden eyes major overhaul of air defense systems because of potential Russian threat


RT
Sun, 25 Jun 2017 17:13 UTC
MIM-23 Hawk, medium-range surface-to-air missile
© Los688 / Wikipedia
Sweden intends to replace all of its aging air defense systems, saying Russian missile systems stationed in the nearby exclave of Kaliningrad make this a necessity. US-made Patriot systems are among the options for the major overhaul.

The Swedish military's Air Defense Regiment, which currently operates Raytheon's archaic MIM-23 Hawk missile system, is likely to be replaced in the coming years, defense officials said.
"Even though you can modify and improve old systems, there is a limit to how old they can get. In that sense, we can agree that the Hawk is getting old," the Air Defense Regiment's head of communications, Carl Sjostrand, told TT newswire, as cited by Svenska Dagbladet newspaper.

Comment: More on Sweden's reasoning of a perceived Russian threat: The Russians are coming (again): This time to Northern Sweden

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Snakes in Suits

A known and confirmed serial liar is driving the Russia hacking allegations and his name is John Brennan


Washington's Blog
Fri, 23 Jun 2017 00:00 UTC
John Brennan
John Brennan: Serial liar
Today's lengthy Washington Post's story makes it clear that former CIA boss John Brennan is largely responsible for driving the claim that Russia hacked the election.

But Brennan is a proven, documented liar. He was busted for lying to Congress and the American public by claiming that the CIA wasn't spying on the Congressional investigation into torture ... when it was.

Indeed, the Washington Post called on Brennan to be fired for lying.

And Brennan lied when - as Obama's counter-terrorism advisor - he said that in the past year there had not been a single collateral death from drone strikes. (He later changed that slightly to say there was no "credible evidence" of such deaths.) But there was abundant and credible evidence of collateral deaths from drone strikes. As just one example among many, a March 2011 CIA drone attack in Pakistan killed some 50 people, including tribal elders who were gathered for a tribal conclave.)
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Jet1

Israel targets Syrian artillery positions in second incident in 2 days


RT
Sun, 25 Jun 2017 16:40 UTC
Israeli Air Force F-15 fighter jet
© Amir Cohen / Reuters
The IDF struck two artillery launchers and an ammunition truck on the Syrian side of the border after "several Syrian projectiles" landed in Israeli territory without causing any casualties. A similar incident occurred in the same Golan Heights region on Saturday.

"In response to several Syrian projectiles launched towards Israel, IDF targeted 2 Syrian regime artillery positions & an ammunitions truck," the Israel Defense Forces tweeted on their official feed on Sunday afternoon.

The tweet came three hours after the IDF said Syrian projectiles had "hit an open area in the northern Golan Heights," while noting that "no injuries were reported."


Comment: Israeli warplanes target two Syrian tanks after spillover cross-border fire - UPDATE

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Map

Locked in al-Tanf: US military concedes it lost the race to occupy southeast Syria


Moon Of Alabama
Sun, 25 Jun 2017 16:07 UTC
US soldiers
The U.S. military has, for now, given up on occupying south-east Syria. Recent remarks at the Department of Defense press conference concede the defeat of its original plans.

Let us recap: The U.S. military had occupied the al-Tanf border station between Syria and Iraq some 12 kilometer east of the Jordan-Syria-Iraq border triangle. The economically important road between Damascus and Baghdad runs through al-Tanf. When Syrian government forces moved towards the al-Tanf area the U.S. military bombed them and unilaterally claimed a "deconfliction-zone", i.e occupied territory, around the station.

The U.S. plan was to disrupt any connection between Syrian government held areas in the west and Iraq in the east by moving north from al-Tanf up to the Euphrates river valley around Deir Ezzor. The neoconservatives and Zionist propagandists claimed that this was necessary to interrupt the "Shia crescent" that allegedly would connect Iran through Iraq and Syria with Lebanon. The U.S. forces would thereby interrupt Iranian support for Hizbullah forces defending Lebanon from Israeli incursions. But the "Shia crescent" was never more than an idea. Iran supplies to Hizbullah have never depended on a land connection alone. The "crescent" connection was not disrupted when the U:S. occupied Iraq or when ISIS held the area.
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Info

Cold War in the desert: How the Qatar crisis could become a stalemate

Adam Garrie
The Duran
Sat, 24 Jun 2017 14:53 UTC
Qatar airport
The Qatar conflict could turn into a wider Middle East cold war which could ironically bring a measure of peace to the region.

The cold war in the desert may become a new medium term reality for the Gulf and wider Middle East as both sides become more entrenched in their positions.

Qatar has refused a Saudi authored ultimatum whose contents were leaked to the press. A Qatari official has called the ultimatum "unrealistic" and "unreasonable" and it is not difficult to see why as capitulation to Saudi Arabia's demands would essentially reduce Qatar to the status of a Saudi client state.

Now the UAE which has strongly backed the Saudi position, has implied that the countries currently boycotting Qatar do not intend to engage Qatar militarily nor do they seek regime change in Doha. According to the UAE's Foreign Minister, the anti-Qatar parties instead seek to change the "behavior" of the government in Doha.

Enter a classic cold war scenario where economic disputes and a competition for geo-political authority and prestige are cloaked in an ideological struggle that ultimately no one is willing to die for.
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Bullseye

WikiLeaks founder Assange criticizes 'doomed' Democratic party for stirring Russia-Trump 'hysteria'


RT
Sun, 25 Jun 2017 14:43 UTC
Assange
© Peter Nicholls / Reuters
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange says the Democratic party is "doomed," while warning its Trump-Russia collusion narrative is a "political dead end" that is consuming all its energy.

Assange took to Twitter on Sunday to list six reasons he believes the party is sabotaging itself, why.
"The Democratic establishment has vortexed the party's narrative energy into hysteria about Russia," he wrote, calling the rhetoric a "political dead end."

"Despite vast resources, enormous incentives and a year of investigation, Democratic senators who have seen the classified intelligence at the CIA such as Senator Feinstein (as recently as March) are forced to admit that there is no evidence of collusion," he wrote.
The WikiLeaks founder went on to address other issues he believes are leading to the party's demise, including the collapse of the Democratic vote over the past eight years, which he says has occurred at all levels - city, state, congressional, and presidential.

Comment: See also: Democrats' golden ticket Russia-gate flops

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USA

Trump refrains from hosting Ramadan dinner, breaking 20-yr White House tradition


RT
Sun, 25 Jun 2017 12:53 UTC
Trump
© Carlos Barria / Reuters
Donald Trump has declined to host a dinner to mark the end of Ramadan, ending a tradition that has been observed at the White House for more than 20 years. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson also declined to host a reception to mark the holiday.

The White House's tradition of holding an annual iftar dinner for Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan, began under the Clinton administration, which first hosted the event in 1996.

However, the first such dinner dates all the way back to 1805, when Thomas Jefferson invited an ambassador from Tunis to the White House.

Instead of following the tradition on Saturday, Trump and First Lady Melania attended the wedding of Treasury Secretary Steve Munchin, who married Scottish actress Louis Linton.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson also reportedly said earlier in the year that the White House would not be hosting a dinner.

The White House did issue a statement acknowledging Eid late on Saturday, however.

Comment: See also: Trump may bring proposed travel ban to Supreme Court after latest setback in federal court of appeals

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