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US Marines return to Afghanistan's Helmand province, first time since 2014


RT
Sat, 29 Apr 2017 12:49 UTC
US Marines at Kandahar air base
© Omar Sobhani / ReutersUS Marines at Kandahar air base upon the end of combat operations in Helmand October 27, 2014.
US Marines have returned to Afghanistan's southernmost Helmand province, which is mostly controlled by the Taliban. The Marines withdrew from the area in October of 2014, and the security situation there has deteriorating over the years.

The province saw some of the worst fighting in the earlier years of the US-led occupation. NATO says its forces have since relinquished combat missions to the Afghan National Army and remain in the country only for training and assistance purposes.

The 300-strong Marine force arrived in Helmand on Saturday, AFP reported. The commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, General John Nicholson, attended a handover ceremony, during which the Marines took over from a similarly sized US Army unit, which is now rotating home.
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Pistol

Trump tells NRA: '8-yr assault' on gun rights 'has come to a crashing end'


RT
Fri, 28 Apr 2017 12:39 UTC
Donald Trump
© Scott Olson / Getty Images / AFP
US President Donald Trump became the first sitting commander-in-chief in more than 30 years to speak to the National Rifle Association, promising the guns-rights activists that he would "never, ever infringe" on the Second Amendment to the Constitution.

"The eight-year assault on your Second Amendment freedoms has come to a crashing end," Trump said during his speech to the NRA's leadership forum in Atlanta, Georgia on Friday.

Trump began his speech by praising Karen Handel, the Republican candidate in the June special election runoff for Georgia's 6th Congressional District. He listed all the problems with her opponent without naming him, but then joked that "other than that he's doing a tremendous job!"
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Propaganda

Fake News: Russia now allegedly waging 'cyberwarfare' on British hospitals & universities


RT
Sat, 29 Apr 2017 11:39 UTC
Hacker
State-sponsored and criminal gang hackers are increasingly targeting British hospitals and universities, researchers claim.

Verizon's 'Data Breach Investigations Report,' compiled using information from companies and the US Secret Service, said there were 1,935 breaches worldwide from 84 countries over the past year.

It found 18 percent of these were by state agents. The report did not record the number of state-sponsored breaches.

According to the Times, "attacks on Britain by Russia and China have increased significantly."
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Bad Guys

NATO chief 'alarmed' at latest string of Turkish arrests in connection with failed coup


RT
Sat, 29 Apr 2017 11:39 UTC
Jens Stoltenberg NATO Secretary General
© nato.intJens Stoltenberg answers media questions in Valetta, Malta on April 27, 2017
The NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, has expressed alarm at the actions of "key ally" Turkey, after Ankara announced a new series of arrests and suspensions in connection with last year's abortive coup.

"Turkey has the right to protect itself and also to prosecute those who were behind the failed coup attempt. But that has to take place based on the rule of law, full respect to the rule of law," Stoltenberg told the media ahead of an EU defense ministers' meeting in Valetta, Malta.

"This is an issue we have discussed with the Turkish leadership."

Comment: Further reading:

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Chess

Rex Tillerson sidelines Nikki Haley at Security Council, opens door for negotiations with North Korea

Alexander Mercouris
The Duran
Sat, 29 Apr 2017 11:39 UTC
Rex Tillerson
© REUTERS/ Kevin LamarqueRex Tillerson
In carefully chosen words at UN Security Council session US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson leaves open possibility for direct negotiations between the US and North Korea, culminating in an agreement to normalise relations in return for limits on North Korea's nuclear programme.

Rex Tillerson, the US Secretary of State, acted today to confirm his authority as the head of US diplomacy by using a UN Security Council session to make what amounted to a peace offer to North Korea.

After sidelining Nikki Haley at the UN Security Council session today, Tillerson signalled what could be a significant shift in the US approach to the Korean crisis, appearing to offer direct talks with North Korea's leadership with a promise of an eventual normalisation of relations between the US and North Korea, and holding out the prospect of the eventual enuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula and of sanctions relief.
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Radar

US and Japan in joint show of force amid simmering row with North Korea


RT
Fri, 28 Apr 2017 21:53 UTC
U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson
© U.S. Navy / Reuters
Japanese fighter jets have joined aircraft from the USS Carl Vinson for joint drills in waters off Okinawa. It comes as the American carrier strike group heads towards the Korean Peninsula amid heightened tensions between Washington and Pyongyang.

Two US Navy F/A-18 aircraft dispatched with the US vessel were joined by two Japanese Air Self-Defense Force (ASDF) F-15s based in Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, according to an ASDF statement cited by the Japan Times.

The USS Carl Vinson and several other US Navy ships - along with two Japanese maritime ASDF destroyers, 'Samidare' and 'Ashigara' - also took part in the Thursday drills.

Although the ASDF often holds joint exercises with the US Air Force, one involving an aircraft carrier is rare.

Comment: And then this happened: Seoul reports North Korea fired ballistic missile test

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Rocket

Seoul reports North Korea fired ballistic missile test


RT
Fri, 28 Apr 2017 21:39 UTC
North korea missile launch
© FILE PHOTO. Jun Yeon-Je / AFP
North Korea has launched a ballistic missile from an area north of the country's capital, Pyongyang, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported, citing the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff.

"North Korea fired an unidentified missile from a site in the vicinity of Bukchang in Pyeongannam-do (South Pyeongan Province) early this morning," the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a statement, according to Yonhap.

An unnamed US official confirmed to NBC News that there was indeed a missile test, but there was no indication that it was nuclear. Meanwhile, Reuters reports, citing sources, that initial analysis shows that the latest test might have failed.

The South Korean military are now analyzing the type of missile fired and flight distance of the projectile traveled.

Comment: Meanwhile: US and Japan in joint show of force amid simmering row with North Korea

Update: N. Korean ballistic missile fails minutes after launch
The US Pacific Command detected and tracked the missile launch from an area near the Pukchang airfield, but determined that the missile never posed any threat to the United States, as according to the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) it never left North Korean airspace.

The projectile, presumed to be a KN-17 medium range ballistic missile, appeared to have broken up and exploded "within minutes" of the launch, US officials told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

Missile debris allegedly landed in the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea, according to a US official who spoke with CNN. An unnamed US official confirmed to NBC News that there was no indication that the test was nuclear.

The US administration is "aware of the most recent North Korean missile test," and President Trump was briefed on the launch, the White House said in a short statement.


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Attention

US deploys troops along contested Syria-Turkey border

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Fri, 28 Apr 2017 21:07 UTC
March 5 photo shows a convoy of U.S. forces armoured vehicles driving near the village of Yalanli, on the western outskirts of the northern Syrian city of Manbij
© DELIL SOULEIMAN / AFP/GETTY IMAGESMarch 5 photo shows a convoy of U.S. forces armoured vehicles driving near the village of Yalanli, on the western outskirts of the northern Syrian city of Manbij.
Just three days after Turkish warplanes killed at least 20 US-backed Kurdish fighters along the Turkey-Syria border as well as several Kurdish Peshmerga troops on Mount Sinjar in northwestern Iraq, footage posted by Syrian activists showed the US has deployed troops and APCs in the contested region, in a move that could potentially drag the US in a conflict where it already finds itself mediating between two so-called US ally forces in the proxy war against Syria.

The Turkish airstrikes also wounded 18 members of the U.S.-backed People's Protection Units, or Y.P.G., were criticized by both the U.S. and Russia. The YPG is a close U.S. ally in the theatrical fight against the Islamic State (whose real purpose is destabilizing the Assad regime); it is seen by Ankara as a terrorist group because of its ties to Turkey's Kurdish rebels. The problem is that Turkey is also an ally of the US, although over the past two years relations between Turkey and all western NATO allies have deteriorated substantially for numerous familiar, and extensively discussed in the past, reasons.
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MIB

NSA halting collection of Americans' emails about foreign targets

Charlie Savage
The New York Times
Fri, 28 Apr 2017 20:59 UTC
National Security Agency campus
© Patrick Semansky/Associated Press
The National Security Agency has halted one of the most disputed practices of its warrantless wiretapping program: collecting Americans' emails and texts to and from people overseas that mention foreigners targeted for surveillance, according to officials familiar with the matter.

National security officials have argued that such surveillance is lawful and helpful in identifying people who might have links to terrorism, espionage or otherwise are targeted for intelligence-gathering. The fact that the sender of such a message would know an email address or phone number associated with a surveillance target is grounds for suspicion, these officials argued.
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Rocket

Lavrov to West: Don't allow your insane political war hawks to drag the world into war

Matthew Allen
Russia Insider
Thu, 27 Apr 2017 00:00 UTC
Lavrov at conference
© Russia Insider
Russia's Foreign Minister urged the international community to denounce the 'philosophy of hegemony and one's own exclusivity' during the Sixth Moscow Conference on International Security. Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has a simple, but beautiful idea: Let's not allow insane war hawks to drag the world into open conflict.

Speaking at the Sixth Moscow Conference on International Security on Wednesday, Lavrov reminded the audience that "the entire world history shows that wars are not unleashed by generals but by politicians". He also warned that "war hawks" are attempting to provoke escalation in Ukraine.

Lavrov commented on the worrying situations in Ukraine, the Korean Peninsula, and Syria. He finished his remarks by stating unequivocally that "Russia, jointly with its partners and like-minded countries, will continue to assert solid principles in global affairs and to form the entire new global governance system reflecting the 21st century imperatives. We are ready to work together, jointly search for various options to overcome our challenges on the basis of equality, mutual respect and consideration for each other's interests. We urge all our partners to do this."

Some highlights from his speech:

Comment: From Lavrov's lips to our ears...always wise, always gentlemanly and sincerely profound. Is the West even listening?

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