Puppet MastersS


Radar

Russian battleships and submarine fire 6 cruise missiles on ISIS targets in Syria


RT
Fri, 23 Jun 2017 12:10 UTC
Russian navy
© Still from Russian MoD footage
Two Russian Navy frigates and a submarine have fired six Kalibr cruise missiles on Islamic State targets in Syria, the Defense Ministry said. Militants who survived the attack were later killed in airstrikes.

The missiles were launched from Russian Navy frigates, the Admiral Essen and the Admiral Grigorovich, as well as a submarine, the Krasnodar, from the eastern Mediterranean, the Defense Ministry said in a Friday statement. The submarine fired its missiles while submerged.

The strikes targeted Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) command and control centers, as well as ammunition depots in the Syrian province of Hama.
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Snakes in Suits

Still playing the losing game: EU leaders agree to extend Russia sanctions over Ukraine


RT
Thu, 22 Jun 2017 21:03 UTC
Jean Claude Juncker (L) and Donald Tusk
© Aurore Belot / AFP
EU leaders have officially confirmed a decision to extend sanctions against Russia over Crimea and Eastern Ukraine for another six months, the President of the European Council Donald Tusk announced during a European leaders summit in Brussels.
"Agreed. EU will extend economic sanctions against Russia for their lack of implementing the Minsk Agreement," Tusk tweeted on Thursday.
The sanctions were first imposed following the secession of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and subsequently expanded during the outbreak of violence in the east of the country.

Comment: No response from Germany yet: Germany and Austria slam US sanctions against Russia

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Chess

SOTT Focus: NATO vs Eurasian integration: 'Russian' meddling in the battle for the Balkans

Ante Sarlija
Sott.net
Thu, 22 Jun 2017 22:58 UTC
The Balkans
© Publikuar në Prill
We're seeing a continuing and increasing push on the part of the U.S. to incorporate the Balkans into their sphere of influence, and away from possible cooperation with states such as Russia and China, both of which are the driving force behind the emergence of a multi-polar world.

The West is worried about Russian and Chinese projects (i.e. One Belt One Road Initiative, potential pipelines etc.) that could eventually reach the heartland of Europe through the Balkans and then curtail Western influence and control of the region, both economically and politically. This is especially worrisome to the U.S. elite which sees such a future as an existential threat to their global parasitism. Wherever there's potential for an increase in Russian and Chinese influence around the world, a crisis somehow arises, with the blame being assigned to Russia and/or China.

The main reason the West is 'concerned' about the Balkans is due to its role and position on the 'global chessboard'.
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Radar

Islamabad decries US drone strikes amid reports Trump may increase such ops in Pakistan


RT
Thu, 22 Jun 2017 20:49 UTC
US drone
© U.S. Air Force
Pakistan has slammed US drone strikes on its territory amid reports that the Trump administration may widen such operations in a bid to pin down the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan.

Washington maintains that Pakistan harbors the Afghan Taliban and other Islamist militants fighting the American-backed Kabul government, a claim Islamabad consistently denies. Recently, US officials said Trump's new Afghan policy would include an increase of drone attacks - possibly on Pakistani territory.

A spokesman for Pakistan's foreign ministry said Islamabad condemns such practice on its soil.
"Our position is that drone strikes are counter-productive and violate the sovereignty of Pakistan," Nafees Zakaria said.

But, Zakaria added, "Pakistan attaches importance to its relationship with the US."

"We firmly believe that continued close cooperation between our two countries is critical for promoting peace and security in the region and beyond."
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Jet5

US strike in Yemen kills al-Qaeda emir and two other members


Sputnik
Thu, 22 Jun 2017 20:46 UTC
rubble in Yemen after air strike
© REUTERS/ Khaled Abdullah
Abu Khattab al Awlaqi, the emir for al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP)'s terrorist stronghold in Shabwah Governorate, was killed in the strike of the US military along with two of his AQAP associates, according to the statement of Central Command.

The US military conducted an airstrike in Yemen on June 16 that resulted in death of three members of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) terrorist group (banned in Russia), including the emir for the Shabwah Governorate, Central Command said in a press release on Thursday.

"Abu Khattab al Awlaqi, the emir for AQAP's terrorist stronghold in Shabwah Governorate, was killed in the strike along with two of his AQAP associates," the release said.
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Snakes in Suits

Orban and 'new boy' Macron engaged in verbal slugfest over EU policies


RT
Thu, 22 Jun 2017 20:38 UTC
Emmanuel Macron and Viktor Orban
© Reuters
Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban has slammed the French president over what he terms inappropriate conduct after Emmanuel Macron criticized Eastern Europe for a 'lack of solidarity' and 'cynicism' in dealing with the refugee crisis.

Macron's first public appearance at official EU level was "not very encouraging," Orban told journalists on the sidelines of the EU leaders summit that started Thursday in Brussels.

The Hungarian prime minister went on to say that the French leader "thought that the best form of friendship [between the EU states] was to kick the Central European countries," adding, "it is not the norm here."
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Better Earth

Meet the alt-G8: Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) welcomes India and Pakistan to become largest political organization

Pepe Escobar
Sputnik News
Wed, 21 Jun 2017 19:53 UTC
Shanghai Cooperation Organization
© Russian InsiderThe Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is reshaping Eurasia.
A tectonic geopolitical shift happened in Astana, Kazakhstan, only a few days ago, and yet barely a ripple registered in Atlanticist circles.

At the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), founded in 2001, both India and Pakistan were admitted as full members, alongside Russia, China and four Central Asian "stans" (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan).

So now the SCO not only qualifies as the largest political organization - by area and population - in the world; it also unites four nuclear powers. The G-7 is irrelevant, as the latest summit in Taormina made it clear. The real action now, apart from the G-20, also lays in this alternative G-8.

Permanently derided in the West for a decade and a half as a mere talk shop, the SCO, slowly but surely, keeps advancing a set up that Chinese President Xi Jinping qualifies, in a subdued manner, as "a new type of international relations featuring win-win cooperation."

That's the least one can say when you have China, India and Pakistan in the same group.
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USA

The dead giveaways of imperial decline

Charles Hugh Smith
Of Two Minds
Tue, 13 Jun 2017 13:01 UTC
empire in decline
Nothing is as permanent as we imagine--especially super-complex, super-costly, super-asymmetric and super-debt-dependent state/financial systems.

Identifying the tell-tale signs of Imperial decay and decline is a bit of a parlor game. The hubris of an increasingly incestuous and out-of-touch leadership, dismaying extremes of wealth inequality, self-serving, avaricious Elites, rising dependency of the lower classes on free Bread and Circuses provided by a government careening toward insolvency due to stagnating tax revenues and vast over-reach--these are par for the course of self-reinforcing Imperial decay.

Sir John Glubb listed a few others in his seminal essay on the end of empires The Fate of Empires, what might be called the dynamics of decadence:
  1. A growing love of money as an end in itself.
  2. A lengthy period of wealth and ease, which makes people complacent. They lose their edge; they forget the traits (confidence, energy, hard work) that built their civilization.
  3. Selfishness and self-absorption.
  4. Loss of any sense of duty to the common good.
Glubb included the following in his list of the characteristics of decadence:
  • an increase in frivolity, hedonism, materialism and the worship of unproductive celebrity (paging any Kardashians in the venue...)
  • a loss of social cohesion
  • willingness of an increasing number to live at the expense of a bloated bureaucratic state
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Chess

The unthinkable becomes conceivable: Is Turkey subtly changing sides in Syrian conflict?

Adam Garrie
The Duran
Thu, 22 Jun 2017 00:00 UTC
ErdoAssad
© AFP 2017/ IBRAHIM USTA / POOLA wave to the future?
Between the Syrian victory in the Battle of Aleppo in December of 2016 and the signing of the Astana Memorandum on the creation of de-escalation zones in Syria in May of 2017, Turkey was one of the biggest obstacles to peace in and freedom for Syria.

The Battle of Aleppo was in many ways the Stalingrad moment in the Syrian war on al-Qaeda/al-Nusrea. It was a point of no return in respect of al-Qaeda/al-Nusrea's long term desire to conquer and subjugate important population centres in western Syria. It was during the interim period between the end of 2016 and the spring of 2017 that Turkey increased its own illegal war against Syria using its own jihadist proxies, the so-called FSA.

Since Turkey so-signed the Astana Memorandum in May of this year, Turkey's position has subtly shifted.

Geo-politically, the Astana process has led Turkey to technically side with Russia and Iran, two unambiguous supporters of the rule of international law in Syria and consequently, supporters of the legitimate Syrian government.

Knowing that illegal regime change in Damascus is now all but an impossibility, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has attempted militarily to work with the US in capturing the self-proclaimed ISIS capital of Raqqa. Erdogan was not only totally disregarded by the US in this respect but the US has openly aligned itself with Kurdish forces in Syria who are sworn enemies of Turkey.

With Kurds acting in manners which are increasingly hostile to not only Turkey but also to Syria, it is clear that Ankara and Damascus both have a common enemy who seek to annex parts of both Turkey and Syria. Kurds in Iraq may unilaterally declare independence in northern Iraqi regions as early as September of this year.

Comment: It was suspected, back in July, 2016, that Erdogan was considering mending relations with Syria via secret negotiations to prepare the groundwork for transition away from 'Assad the enemy' to 'Assad the brother'. Certainly other policy changes have since taken place as Turkey sought to maintain relevance and power. Behind all of Turkey's maneuvers is the Kurdish issue and seeing the Kurds realizing their quest for autonomous statehood forces Erdogan to adjust positions. With Syria oddly on the same page as Turkey, it is extremely likely a shift has happened. Strange bedfellows and all that.

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Star of David

What was its first clue? UN is alarmed over rise in contacts between Israeli troops and Syrian militants


Press TV
Wed, 21 Jun 2017 08:53 UTC
Militants in UN zone
© APTwo militants ride towards abandoned UN base near Syrian border and occupied territories.
United Nations UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has expressed concerns about a spike in contacts between Israeli armed forces and Syria militants in recent months. In a report released recently, Guterres warned that the growing interactions between the two sides could lead to escalation and cause harm to members of the UN Disengagement Observer Force deployed to the Golan Heights.

According to the report, UN observers listed 16 meetings between the Israel forces and the Syria militants in the border area, including on Mount Hermon, in proximity to UN outposts in Syria's Quneitra Province and the Golan Heights, from March 2 to May 16.
"Relative to the previous reporting period, there has been a significant increase in interaction" between Israeli soldiers and individuals from the Syrian side of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, "occurring on four occasions in February, three in March, eight in April and on one occasion in May," the report said. In its previous report released in March, the UN listed at least 17 interactions between the two sides between November 18, 2016, and March 1, 2017.
The figures show a significant increase when compared with only two such meetings recorded between August 30 and November 16, 2016.


Comment: It takes the average, slightly knowledgeable person two minutes to put this together, having only a slight inkling of what Israel is about and trying to achieve. That the UN consistently drags its feet and is utterly and purposefully ineffective at reining in Israel on its blatant atrocities and overt land grabs, tells us who is influencing the seat of power at the UN. Notice the concern has come only because UN observers might inadvertently get in harm's way.

Israel has become more transparent in its encounters with militants since the Syrians began winning the war. Israel sees this writing on the wall and is going for the bigger prize by pitting sides against Iran and using the US - Kurd alliance to drive the wedge.

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