Puppet MastersS


Info

Turkish military: Over 1,100 ISIS terrorists killed since start of Turkey's Syria operation

U.S soldiers ride a military vehicle in al-Kherbeh village, northern Aleppo province, Syria October 24, 2016
© Khalil Ashawi / U.S soldiers ride a military vehicle in al-Kherbeh village, northern Aleppo province, Syria October 24, 2016
More than 1,100 Islamic State terrorists have been killed since the start of Operation Euphrates Shield in northern Syria, the Turkish military said in a statement.

The figures on Operation Euphrates Shield, which has entered its fifth month, were released on Friday and reported by Reuters. According to the Turkish military, 1,294 Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) militants have been "neutralized" during the operation, 1,171 of them have been killed.

The military added that 306 Kurdish YPG militants have been "neutralized," and 291 have been killed during the campaign.

Operation Euphrates Shield in northern Syria started on August 24. Ankara deployed ground and air forces to Syria with the stated goal of retaking areas held by Islamic State and securing its southern borders.

Comment: See also: Operation 'Euphrates Shield': Turkey deploys 300 elite commandos in Syria


Info

Russia calls UNSC meeting as new Syria ceasefire comes into force

Abandoned tank in Aleppo, Syria
© Maria Finoshina, RT
Members of the UN Security Council are to convene for a closed meeting initiated by Russia to discuss the ceasefire brokered for Syria by Turkey and Russia that took effect at 12:00am on Friday, a diplomatic UN source said.

"Russia requested this meeting. It is expected to focus on the ceasefire announced in Syria," a diplomatic source at the UN headquarters told TASS news agency.

Another source told the agency that Russia may propose a resolution endorsing the ceasefire.

The meeting will be held later on Friday immediately after an open session that will review a draft resolution on prolonging the UN's Oil-for-Food Program (OIP), which was established in 1995 to help Iraq exchange oil for food, medicine, and other humanitarian supplies.

Stormtrooper

#FakeNews: The Guardian completely distorts Assange interview to spread false narrative of Russian interference in US election

the guardian office building
JULIAN ASSANGE IS a deeply polarizing figure. Many admire him and many despise him (into which category one falls in any given year typically depends on one's feelings about the subject of his most recent publication of leaked documents).

But one's views of Assange are completely irrelevant to this article, which is not about Assange. This article, instead, is about a report published this week by The Guardian that recklessly attributed to Assange comments that he did not make. This article is about how those false claims — fabrications, really — were spread all over the internet by journalists, causing hundreds of thousands of people (if not millions) to consume false news. The purpose of this article is to underscore, yet again, that those who most flamboyantly denounce Fake News, and want Facebook and other tech giants to suppress content in the name of combating it, are often the most aggressive and self-serving perpetrators of it.

One's views of Assange are completely irrelevant to this article because, presumably, everyone agrees that publication of false claims by a media outlet is very bad, even when it's designed to malign someone you hate. Journalistic recklessness does not become noble or tolerable if it serves the right agenda or cause. The only way one's views of Assange are relevant to this article is if one finds journalistic falsehoods and Fake News objectionable only when deployed against figures one likes.

Jet4

Syrian Commander promises Al-Bab will be liberated 'within next few days': Russian airstrikes definitely will help

Syrian pro-government fighters
© AFP 2016/ GEORGE OURFALIAN
Turkish armed forces and allied Free Syrian Army (FSA) units are tightening their noose around the Daesh-held city of al-Bab. In an interview with Sputnik Turkey, FSA division commander Taha Atraç commented on the progress of the operation.

The efforts to liberate the strategic city are complicated by the terrorists using civilians as a human shield.

"Both sides are suffering losses, but Daesh is being hit the hardest. Turkish artillery and the FSA keep pounding their positions in the north of the city, even though in the past couple of days heavy rain and fog have prevented the Turkish Air Force from hitting the jihadists' positions," Taha Atraç told Sputnik Turkey.

Comment: The commander may be confident because: Russia's air support was the 'determining factor' in Aleppo victory


Bad Guys

Iran Revolutionary Guard spokesman says continued settlement construction will lead to Israel's demise

Houses are seen in the Jewish settlement of Har Gilo, in the occupied West Bank, December 29, 2016
© Baz Ratner / ReutersHouses are seen in the Jewish settlement of Har Gilo, in the occupied West Bank, December 29, 2016
As the dust settles on a UN resolution condemning illegal Israeli settlement building in occupied Palestinian territory, Iran has come out with a statement saying that Israel will pay dearly for continuing with the construction.

A spokesman for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said that, by going ahead with settlements, the Israeli regime is risking "complete destruction," as it will "definitely provoke a reaction," as quoted by Tasnim news agency.

The rhetoric from Iran comes a day after US Secretary of State John Kerry had criticized Israel's activities in occupied Palestine, while playing down the United States' role in facilitating the passage of the UN Security Council's anti-settlement resolution.

Washington chose to abstain from voting at a Security Council meeting last Friday, when members voted to condemn the illegal construction. The Iranian spokesman hailed the move as a "sign that Washington has come to realize the course of events and continued settlement construction will result in the collapse of the Zionist regime of Israel."

Jet5

Moscow sends a plane to ferry its 35 expelled diplomats and their families out of the U.S.

russian plane
The Russian government will send a plane to ferry its diplomats out of the U.S., after President Obama expelled them in a new round of sanctions against the country for its alleged meddling in the presidential election.

On Thursday, the president labeled 35 Russian diplomats from the country's embassy in Washington, DC and consulate in San Francisco 'persona non grata' - giving them 72 hours to get out of the country.

Previous reports stated that some of the diplomats were having a hard time booking travel out of the U.S. at the last minute and during the holiday season.

Comment: Putin mic drops Obama: Russia retaliates against US retaliations... by inviting families of US diplomats to New Year's party at Kremlin, wishes Obama and family all the best

Putin wishes happy New year to Trump, US Nation - Kremlin


Light Sabers

Syrian militia reports no hostilities registered during first night of ceasefire

Destroyed quarters of liberated Aleppo
© Photo: SANADestroyed quarters of liberated Aleppo
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Thursday that the Syrian government and armed opposition groups had reached an agreement on a nationwide ceasefire in Syria and on readiness to start peace talks.

Putin also called on the Syrian government, armed opposition and all countries with influence on the situation in the Arab republic to support the reached agreements and to take part in the anticipated reconciliation talks in Astana.

"The night was quiet in Aleppo, according to our sources, [it was also quiet] in Damascus and Homs. Everybody seems to comply with the ceasefire," the spokesperson told RIA Novosti.

Take 2

US-Russian relations: Oliver Stone's year-end take

Oliver stone
© Schaumburg Township District Library
"Then I fear, in his hot-headed way, he (Trump) starts fighting with the Russians, and it wouldn't be long then until a state of war against Russia is declared."

As 2016 draws to a close, we find ourselves a deeply unsettled nation. We're unable to draw the lines of our national interest. Is it jobs and economy, is it national security, or is it now in our interest to ensure global security - in other words, act as the world's policemen?

As the "failing" (to quote Trump) New York Times degenerates into a Washington Post organization with its stagnant Cold War vision of a 1950s world where the Russians are to blame for most everything - Hillary's loss, most of the aggression and disorder in the world, the desire to destabilize Europe, etc. - the Times has added the issue of 'fake news' to reassert its problematic role as the dominant voice for the Washington establishment.

Certainly this is true in the case of Russia's 'hacking' the 2016 election and putting into office its Manchurian Candidate in Donald Trump. Apparently the CIA (via various unnamed intelligence officials), and the FBI, NSA, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper (who notoriously lied to Congress in the Snowden affair), President Obama, the DNC, Hillary Clinton, and Congress agree that Russia, and Mr. Putin predominantly, is responsible.

Certainly the psychotic, war-loving Senator John McCain is right up there alongside these patriots, calling President Putin a "thug, bully and a murderer and anybody else who describes him as anything else is lying." He actually said this - the man whose sound judgment chose Sarah Palin as his VP nominee in '08. And the Times followed by printing the story in its full glory on page one, clearly agreeing with McCain's point of view.

Network

Poroshenko joins the Russian hacking blame game: Russia waging cyberwar with 6,500 attacks on Ukraine

Petro Poroshenko
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said Russian security services are waging a cyberwar against the country, with hackers targeting Ukrainian state institutions about 6,500 times in the past two months.

Just this month, Ukraine's Finance and Defense ministries were hit along with the State Treasury that allocates cash to government institutions. A suspected hack also wiped out part of Kyiv's power grid, causing a blackout in part of the capital.

"The investigation of a number of incidents indicated the complicity directly or indirectly of Russian security services waging a cyberwar against our country," Poroshenko said, urging his National Security and Defense Council to take protective measures on December 29.

"Acts of terrorism and sabotage on critical infrastructure facilities remain possible today."

Bad Guys

New ISIS video: Child jihadists hunt down and execute bound prisoners

ISIS video screenshot
ISIS video screenshot
The Islamic State released a grisly new video today showing child jihadists hunting down bound "apostates" in a live-fire training exercise.

The half-hour-long production, from ISIS headquarters in Raqqa, shows child jihadists -- boys about 9 to 12 years old -- crawling through brush carrying rifles and snipping through a barbed-wire fence toward a training compound with one-story buildings and dummies as targets.