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Dozens of princes and princesses fleeing Saudi Arabia in fear of death


FARS News Agency
Tue, 27 Dec 2016 16:12 UTC
King Salman
Dozens of Saudi princes and princesses have left the country for the fear of their lives after the empowerment of King Salman and his son Muhammad bin Salman as deputy crown prince.

The Palestinian daily, al-Manar, quoted informed sources as saying that many members of the royal family have fled Saudi Arabia to other countries after increased internal differences and rivalries in the House of Saud and their policies in the region.

A large number of the royal family members believe that their lives are at stake and could be assassinated at any moment.

According to the report, a number of these princes and princesses aren't allowed to leave the country and are still in Saudi Arabia under the supervision of the security bodies.

Comment: Lots of trouble brewing in Saudi Arabia:

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Candle

China Joins Russia in Mourning Loss of Members of the Alexandrov Ensemble


Sputnik
Mon, 26 Dec 2016 17:59 UTC
China
© YouTube/DjukiNew1957
In the early hours of Sunday morning, a Russian Tu-154 aircraft en route to Syria crashed in the Black Sea. All 92 people onboard are feared dead, including 64 musicians of the renowned Alexandrov Ensemble, an official choir of the Russian Army. Speaking to Sputnik China, people explained why they feel Russia's loss as if it were their own.

Russian investigators are continuing their probe into Sunday's deadly crash. December 26 has been declared a day of mourning in Russia and neighboring Belarus.

The Alexandrov Ensemble was en route to Syria from Moscow when it crashed in the Black Sea off the coast of Sochi, shortly after refueling at an airport in the resort city of Adler. Syrian President Bashar Assad, who received news of the plane's loss with "great sadness," said that the Russian musicians were traveling to Syria "to share with us and the people of Aleppo the joy of victory and holidays."

Comment: Our condolences to the families and people of Russia for their beloved members of the Alexandrov Ensemble.

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Bomb

US closed $40bn worth of global arms agreements in 2015, far outstripping competitors - study


RT
Tue, 27 Dec 2016 16:21 UTC
Units of Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missiles stand at the Defence Ministry in Tokyo, Japan
© Kyodo / ReutersUnits of Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missiles stand at the Defence Ministry in Tokyo, Japan
The US took first place in closing weapons sales deals globally last year, signing agreements to sell about $40 billion worth of military hardware, accounting for half of all such contracts worldwide, according to a congressional study.

The study, titled 'Conventional Arms Transfers to Developing Nations, 2008-2015,' showed that the US placed well ahead of the number two weapons dealer, France, when it came to overall weapons agreements clinched in 2015. Paris signed deals worth $15 billion.

Russia placed third in closing global arms sales agreements, with $11.1 billion.

Comment: Interesting to note that US military weaponry has been shown to fall into the hands of terrorists. How does that happen?

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War Whore

A rancid holiday season for Neocons

Robert Parry
Consortium News
Tue, 27 Dec 2016 16:01 UTC
neocons
America's extended Christmas holiday season, stretching through much of November and all of December, has not been a happy time for Official Washington's dominant neoconservatives and their liberal-interventionist sidekicks.

First, they had to lick their wounds over the defeat of their preferred U.S. presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton; then they had to watch as their "moderate" Syrian rebel proxies and their Al Qaeda allies were routed from east Aleppo; and finally they watched in disbelief as the Obama administration permitted passage of a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning Israel's illegal settlements on Palestinian lands.

To say that the neocons and liberal hawks have not taken these reversals well would be an understatement. They have pretty much blamed Clinton's defeat on everyone but themselves and Clinton herself. They have been apoplectic over Aleppo and their lost dream of "regime change" in Syria. And they have sputtered in outrage over President Obama's failure to veto the Israeli anti-settlement resolution.
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Megaphone

Russia calls US decision to ease restrictions on arming terrorists a "hostile act"

Andrew Osborn
Reuters
Tue, 27 Dec 2016 16:12 UTC
Syrian terrorists
Russia said on Tuesday that a U.S. decision to ease restrictions on arming Syrian rebels had opened the way for deliveries of shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles, a move it said would directly threaten Russian forces in Syria.

Moscow last year launched a campaign of air strikes in Syria to help President Bashar al-Assad and his forces retake territory lost to rebels, some of whom are supported by the United States.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the policy change easing restrictions on weapons supplies had been set out in a new U.S. defence spending bill and that Moscow regarded the step as a hostile act.

U.S. President Barack Obama, who has been sharply critical of Russia's intervention in Syria, signed the annual defence policy bill into law last week.

"Washington has placed its bets on supplying military aid to anti-government forces who don't differ than much from blood thirsty head choppers. Now, the possibility of supplying them with weapons, including mobile anti-aircraft complexes, has been written into this new bill," Zakharova said in a statement.
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Megaphone

Iranian Defense Minister: Terrorists are tool of the West to destabilize Middle East, US not serious about fighting ISIS


RT
Tue, 27 Dec 2016 18:44 UTC
isis soldiers
© AL-Furqan Media / AFP
Washington appears unready to play a serious role in fighting Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), as it has fostered terrorists itself and now wants them to remain in the Middle East, Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan told RT.

"The Western coalition is of a formal nature, they have no real intention to fight neither in Syria nor in Iraq. We don't see any readiness on their part to play a truly useful and meaningful role in fighting IS, because it's them who have raised terrorists and they are interested in keeping them there," Dehghan said.

According to the Iranian defense minister, Tehran has never coordinated its operations with the Americans and "will never collaborate with them."

"Maybe the coalition forces would like to see terrorists weakened, but certainly not destroyed, because those terrorists are their tool for destabilizing this region and some other parts of the world."

He also mentioned Al-Nusra Front (also known as Jabhat Fateh al-Sham) and said that terrorists in Syria receive support from the US, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. He also accused Turkey of supporting terrorists on the ground.
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Bad Guys

Turkey begins trial of 29 police officers in connection with failed coup


PressTV
Tue, 27 Dec 2016 15:57 UTC
Turkish police coup
© AFPTurkish police walk next to a courthouse in Istanbul, December 27, 2016.
Twenty-nine Turkish police officers have gone on trial in the port city of Istanbul in connection with the failed coup of July 15.

According to Anadolu news agency, the officers went on trial at the gigantic courthouse by Silivri prison outside Istanbul on Tuesday.

Of the officers on trial, 24 are under arrest, one on the run and the rest on bail.

The first hearings are expected to last until December 30.

The officers are charged with refusing to obey orders to protect President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's residence on the night of the coup.

They are also accused of seeking to overthrow the government as well as allegedly being members of a group led by US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara accuses of being behind the coup attempt. Gulen denies the accusation.
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Bomb

Europol admits ISIS actively targeting refugees to carry out terrorist attacks in the EU

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Tue, 27 Dec 2016 15:57 UTC
Syrian refugees trojan horse
© Branco
Confirming what most of us deduced long ago via the application of just a bit of common sense, Europol and Frontex, Europe's border and coast guard agency, are finally admitting that their intelligence indicates coordinated efforts on the part of ISIS to recruit asylum seekers, both in Syria and in migrant camps after they've already reached Europe, to carry out terrorist attacks. In a report published my Europol, counter-terrorism experts warn that, among other things, "Syrian refugee diaspora may become vulnerable to radicalisation once in Europe and may be specifically targeted by Islamic extremist recruiters."
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Cowboy Hat

Sahra Wagenknecht: German and US policy has strengthened ISIS

Tom Winter
Franfürter Allgemeine Zeitung / Fort Russ
Mon, 26 Dec 2016 15:58 UTC
Sahra Wagenknecht
"German politics strengthens terror groups." The attack in Berlin continues to extend the debate on security. Linkspartei Fraction leader Sahra Wagenknecht calls German policy partly responsible.

The Left front-runner Sahra Wagenknecht accuses the federal government of being responsible for the strengthening of terrorist groups. "We need to talk about why there is such an accumulation of Islamic terrorist attacks in Germany, Europe, the Middle East," said the Left Fraction leader to the German Press Agency in Berlin.

The question arises: "What is the co-responsibility of Western, especially American, but also German foreign policy for the strengthening of the Islamic State (IS) and other terrorist groups?"
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Footprints

Moscow court recognizes ousting of Ukraine president in 2014 as coup d'état


RT
Tue, 27 Dec 2016 15:45 UTC
Maidan Kiev
© Vasily Fedosenko / SputnikAnti-government protests at the Independence Square (Maidan) in Kiev, February 19, 2014
A Russian court has ruled in favor of a former Ukrainian lawmaker, recognizing the events in Kiev in 2014, which ended in the ousting of the president and the installation of the current regime, as an illegal coup d'état.

"The main claim of the lawsuit has been confirmed by testimony presented within the case," Dorogomilovsky Court Judge Anna Shipikova announced on Tuesday in Moscow.

The lawsuit was filed by former Ukrainian parliament member and co- founder of the Ukraine Salvation Committee Vladimir Oleynik. He claimed that when the Ukrainian parliament voted to oust then-President Viktor Yanukovich in February 2014, the stated reason was "self-withdrawal from execution of presidential responsibilities," but the Ukrainian Constitution did not include this as a reason for impeachment, and was illegally changed without approval from the Ukrainian Constitutional Court.

Yanukovich's ousting was therefore illegal, as was the subsequent early presidential election in May 2014.
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