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Russia's Black Sea Fleet to maintain 15-ship task force in eastern Mediterranean


RT
Thu, 01 Jun 2017 16:46 UTC
Russian navy ship
© Russian Defence Ministry / Global Look Press
The Black Sea Fleet's task force group operating in eastern Mediterranean Sea off Syria comprises 15 vessels, including two frigates and a submarine, accompanied by various landing and auxiliary ships, the Russian Navy says.

The task force's strike assets are the navy's newest frigates 'Admiral Grigorovich' and 'Admiral Essen', as well as corvette 'Smetlivy' and submarine 'Krasnodar', a spokesman for the Black Sea Fleet said on Thursday.

Three large landing ships - 'Caesar Kunikov', 'Nikolay Filchenkov' and 'Azov' - as well as mine-sweepers, counter-insurgency craft and a tanker, are other auxiliary ships assigned to the Mediterranean task force, he added.
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Info

Trump's anti-Iran coalition crumbling as Muslim allies balk


Sputnik
Thu, 01 Jun 2017 16:21 UTC
Donald Trump with King Salman
© REUTERS/ Jonathan Ernst
During US President Donald Trump's visit to the Middle East, he outlined his vision of the region's future: to build an alliance of Muslim states to contain Iran and bring stability to the Arab World. But this plan has already shown cracks, as the would-be coalition members have already begun to bicker or pull out from the alliance.

"Until the Iranian regime is willing to be a partner for peace, all nations of conscience must work together to isolate Iran, deny it funding for terrorism, and pray for the day when the Iranian people have the just and righteous government they deserve," Trump said in a May 28 speech in Riyadh.

The Washington Post claimed that Trump's ideal was a sort of mini-NATO comprising the US-friendly Arab nations. A NATO-style alliance would mean a NATO-style constitution, most notably something like Article 5, which would make an invasion of one member state an invasion of all of them.
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USA

American Neo-colonialism in action: US unlikely to withdraw from Syria any time soon


Sputnik
Thu, 01 Jun 2017 16:31 UTC
SDF fighters
© REUTERS/ Rodi Said
The United States is unlikely to withdraw its troops from Syria once the devastating six-year war in the Arab country is over, former senior security policy analyst to the US Secretary of Defense Michael Maloof told Radio Sputnik.

"President [Bashar al-Assad] wants all of Syria back, but I think the reality is that you are never going to see the same Syria that you did prior to the civil war. The United States is going to want to occupy certain portions. Syria will not be the autonomous state that it once was. I think what is evolving is the partitioning. The Kurds are going to want something out of this. Russia in the past has proposed, over Assad's objections, an autonomous region in the north, which Turkey will violently oppose. So this struggle is going to go on. The future of Syria as an autonomous state is going to be a very big question for probably years to come," he said.

The analyst further commented on Washington's recent decision to arm the Syrian Kurds, saying that the move would have an impact on US-Turkish relations for quite some time and Ankara's policy in Syria.
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Arrow Up

German-Russian trade skyrockets to 40% increase


RT
Thu, 01 Jun 2017 16:37 UTC
German auto trade
© Laszlo Balogh / Reuters
Trade between Russia and Germany has seen a 40 percent rise in the first quarter, and German businesses are localizing production in Russia, said President Vladimir Putin at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF 2017).

"We have agreed and successfully implement a number of projects. German production is quite high, and localization reaches 60 to 70 percent," said Putin on Thursday.
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Propaganda

Austrian Interior Minister: Russian election hacking allegations 'were never proven, only speculation'


RT
Thu, 01 Jun 2017 15:35 UTC
keyboard
© Kirill Kudryavtsev / AFP
Austrian Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka says he sees no reason to believe that Moscow has attempted to influence Austria's upcoming general election and doubts reports that Russia has done so in other countries.

The allegations of election hacking "were never proven and are only speculation," he said, adding "they are similar to other speculations throughout history, like what we would find in Iraq, or what would happen in Syria or Libya. There were speculations, but they didn't come true."

Sobotka's remarks came in an interview with O1 radio's 'Morning Journal' program just after he returned from a two-day visit to Russia. He said that the issue of the allegations of Russian "hacking of elections" in the West was never raised during talks with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Kolokoltsev.
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War Whore

US doesn't want to work with Turkey and Russia in liberating Raqqa for political PR reasons


Sputnik
Thu, 01 Jun 2017 16:22 UTC
syrian military tank
© AP Photo/ Alexander Kots/Komsomolskaya Pravda
The United States wants to monopolize the victory over Daesh in Raqqa, using it as a public relations stunt, defense analyst Boris Rozhin told RT.

"The United States is not interested in Turkey and Russia participating [in the operation aimed at liberating Raqqa] due to image issues. Washington wants to announce that [the US-led forces] have captured Daesh's main stronghold in Syria despite the fact that the terrorists have already said that they are going to move their 'capital.' This is political PR, an element of political competition," he said.

The analyst mentioned that Moscow is not particularly interested in storming Raqqa since this operation is going to be "extremely challenging."
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Star of David

Trump waives law for 6 more months moving US embassy to Jerusalem


RT
Thu, 01 Jun 2017 16:13 UTC
US embassy in Tel Aviv
© Jack Guez / AFP
The US embassy in Israel will stay in Tel Aviv for a while longer, after President Donald Trump temporarily waived a law requiring its relocation to Jerusalem. Trump says he still favors the move, but that the delay is intended to help with peace talks.

The Jerusalem Embassy Act was passed during Bill Clinton's first term in 1995, but has been waived every six months by US presidents ever since. Trump was facing a Thursday deadline to renew the waiver or have the State Department lose half its funding for overseas facilities, AP reported.

"President Trump made this decision to maximize the chances of successfully negotiating the deal between Israel and the Palestinians," the White House said in a statement. "But, as he has repeatedly stated his intention to move the embassy, the question is not if that move happens, but only when."

"No one should consider this step to be in any way a retreat from the President's strong support for Israel and for the United States-Israel alliance," the White House said.
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Laptop

Trident nukes used by Britain could be rendered useless by hackers - report


RT
Thu, 01 Jun 2017 16:04 UTC
British submarine HMS Vanguard
© MOD / AFPBritish submarine HMS Vanguard
Britain's Trident nukes could be rendered useless by hackers - report Britain's nuclear submarines could be rendered useless by a cyberattack because the military's claim they have effective security is "patently false," a new report claims.

The British American Security Information Council (BASIC) is scathing about both the state of security on Trident-carrying Vanguard submarines and the Ministry of Defence (MoD) claims that the submarines are hacker-proof.

The MoD has rejected concerns over the accessibility of systems aboard Vanguard on the basis that IT equipment, which is run on Windows XP, is not connected to the internet while at sea during three-month patrols.

"Submarines on patrol are clearly air-gapped, not being connected to the internet or other networks, except when receiving (very simple) data from outside. As a consequence, it has sometimes been claimed by officials that Trident is safe from hacking. But this is patently false and complacent," the authors says.
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Telephone

David Petraeus, the disgraced former CIA Director - now identified as national security threat

Mike Cernovich
Medium
Thu, 01 Jun 2017 00:00 UTC
Petraeus
Former CIA director and convicted criminal David Petraeus is under investigation for mishandling classified information yet again. Cernovich Media first reported that H.R. McMaster had been disclosing classified information to Petraeus.

Today John Crudele of the NY Post reports:

The Justice Department has gotten a warrant from the US Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court — also known as the FISA court — to conduct electronic surveillance on a group of journalists who've been the recipient of leaked information, the source said.
The journalists are not the target, according to my source — and I say, thank goodness for that. Instead, the Trump administration is looking for the leaker. Who could it be?
Some in the administration are focusing on a retired, high-ranking military officer who held important posts in the intelligence service, according to the source.

Comment: Trump has been unwittingly adding to the swamp he vowed to empty in hiring dangerous clowns like McMasterblaster, but with the ponerized, corrupt and banal human resource pool he has to choose from and work with he has a very very tough road before him. See also:

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X

'Let them dare!': Gazprom CEO warns Ukraine over stealing Russian gas


RT
Thu, 01 Jun 2017 15:57 UTC
Gate to Gazprom gas facility
© Sputnik
Gazprom has no reasons to worry about Ukraine siphoning gas destined for Europe as payment for a fine leveled against the Russian firm by Ukraine's Antimonopoly Committee, explains CEO Aleksey Miller.

"Let them dare!" Miller said on the sidelines of the 21st St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF 2017) on Thursday.

In December, Kiev's Economic Court upheld a decision by Ukraine's Antimonopoly Committee to fine Gazprom $6.6 billion, including over $170 million in penalties. The fine was imposed for alleged abuse of monopoly power in the natural gas market in 2009-2015.

Miller refused to comment on the course of the litigation between Gazprom and Ukraine's state energy company Naftogaz, as a final decision is still awaited.
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