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Fatally prejudiced: OPCW investigation of Khan Sheikhoun attack collapses before it starts

Alexander Mercouris
The Duran
Fri, 21 Apr 2017 00:00 UTC
Gas attack in the town of Khan Sheikhoun in rebel-held Idlib, Syria April 4, 2017
© Ammar Abdullah / ReutersGas attack in the town of Khan Sheikhoun in rebel-held Idlib, Syria April 4, 2017.

With the stakes impossibly high and an independent investigation compromised before it starts by Western declarations of President Assad's guilt, the OPCW investigation into the Khan Sheikhoun attack is already the subject of recrimination and conflict between the Western Powers and Russia.

Ever since President Trump of the United States declared President Assad of Syria guilty of the Khan Sheikhoun attack within hours of it happening and before any investigation had taken place, I have said that any investigation of the attack had been fatally prejudiced.

Especially after the US missile attack on Al-Shayrat air base, which resulted in people being killed, the honour and prestige of the President of the United States and of the Western alliance is bound up with a finding that President Assad and the Syrian military were guilty of the Khan Sheikhoun attack. Given the stakes involved, and given the enormous power of the US President and of the Western alliance, any truly independent and objective investigation of the Khan Sheikhoun attack is now impossible.

Comment: Lavrov: OPCW's block of on-site probe shows Western powers now aiming to oust Assad

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Dollar

ExxonMobil wants sanctions waived to keep Russia oil deal alive


RT
Wed, 19 Apr 2017 21:53 UTC
exxon plant
© Jessica Rinaldi / Reuters
ExxonMobil has applied for a waiver from US sanctions against Russia to keep a claim to Black Sea oil exploration rights negotiated in 2012, the Wall Street Journal reported. Exxon's former CEO Rex Tillerson is now US secretary of state.

The Journal reported on the application Wednesday afternoon, citing "people familiar with the matter," who remain anonymous. The Treasury Department told the paper that it did not comment on waiver applications, while Exxon said it would not discuss government deliberations.

It is unclear whether Exxon filed the claim with the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control before Tillerson was appointed secretary of state by President Donald Trump, the WSJ said.

Tillerson has recused himself from any matters involving Exxon for two years, and will not be involved in any decisions by the US government involving the company during that period, the paper reported, citing a State Department spokesman.

Trump's critics pounced on the report as proof of their allegations about the president's improper financial ties with Russia.

Comment:

Update: Neither Exxon nor any other US drilling company will be granted any sanctions waivers in Russia:
The US government will not be granting sanctions waivers to any US companies who wish to drill for oil in Russia, the Treasury Department said, following reports that ExxonMobil had requested such an exemption.

"In consultation with President Donald J. Trump, the Treasury Department will not be issuing waivers to US companies, including Exxon, authorizing drilling prohibited by current Russian sanctions," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement Friday.


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Star of David

Israel and Islamist Militias: A strange and recurring alliance

Adeyinka Makinde
Adeyinka Makinde Blog
Thu, 20 Apr 2017 21:19 UTC
Israel and ISIS flags
The recent assertion made by Bashar al-Jaafri, Syria's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, accusing Israel of supporting and assisting the so-called Islamic State in his country's civil war has raised eyebrows in certain sections of the global media. The 'Jerusalem Post' referred to his comments as a "startling accusation" while the British 'Daily Mail' thought it an "extraordinary claim". A columnist for the 'International Business Times', an online publication, opined that Jaafri's comments were the latest of an "oft-repeated conspiracy theory around recent Middle Eastern conflicts" wherein Israel is posited as a "covert ally of Islamic militants."

The rebuttals and other responses expressing skepticism over accepting this allegation as fact appear to be sound. The Jewish state is after all in the words of the 'IBT' columnist, "despised by ISIS" which he goes on write "has urged its followers to kill Jews around the world". Many detractors of the Islamic faith who ignore Koranic references which acknowledge Jews to be a legitimate community of believers in the God of Abraham consistently aver to several passages as evidence of its animus towards adherents of Judaism. Among these is that of 5.13 which accuses the Jews of having broken "their covenant" with God who has "cursed them and made hard their hearts."

How, given this background, could Israel countenance ever giving support -whether direct or indirect- to those indoctrinated with the values of fundamentalist Islam and enamored with the cause of jihadism? The evidence surprisingly does point to a consistent pattern of Israeli state policy aims that has involved facilitating the emergence and the sustenance of militant Islamic organizations. In order to understand this phenomenon, it is important to be aware of the historical policies pursued by the state of Israel which have been predicated on the idea of weakening its opponents in order to reduce external threats to its security. This feeds into an overarching goal of balkanizing Muslim Arab nations and the manipulation of tribal and sectarian rivalries within such polities as a means of achieving this end. It is while bearing this in mind that evidence of Israel's support of an Islamist militia during the Soviet-Afghan War, terror groups in Iran, a group of insurrectionists in Yemen and jihadist militias in the ongoing Syrian Civil War becomes a phenomenon that is more readily comprehended. It also explains why Israel supplied weapons to Iran during its war with Iraq and why Israel effectively aided the creation of the Palestinian Islamist organization Hamas.
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Red Flag

No surprise: 'Western media reports bear zero resemblance to eyewitness testimonies' of Aleppo bus attack


RT
Fri, 21 Apr 2017 16:00 UTC
aleppo bus bombing
© Ammar Abdullah / Reuters A damaged bus is seen after an explosion yesterday at insurgent-held al-Rashideen, Aleppo province, Syria April 16, 2017.
The shocking thing about the attack on a Syrian bus convoy is the story that came out in Western mainstream media immediately after did not match what eyewitnesses were saying, claims Patrick Henningsen, executive editor of 21st Century Wire.com.

The UN's special envoy to Syria said Saturday's massacre in Aleppo province was a horrific event in which more than 130 people were killed. Buses filled with evacuees trying to escape areas besieged by rebels were attacked as they waited to leave.

Survivors are now in hospitals in government-held areas. Among the more than 130 killed were 67 children.

Comment: Following the attack, Vanessa Beeley also gathered first-hand accounts from those who survived the assault:
"There were Ahrar ash-Sham and Jabhat al-Nusra [Al-Nusra Front], and some factions of the Free Syrian Army [FSA]... when the blast rocked the area, people rushed into the woods but militants surrounded them and forced back to the buses," the driver added.

Another woman also told Beeley that even before the explosion, four yellow Turkish ambulances were present at the scene for some reason. After the blast, the ambulances started picking up the dead and injured, only to take them to an unknown location.

"We don't know where they [the children] are. They're gone. There are no bodies. We've searched for them, but with no result," one of the witnesses said.

Many relatives of those missing still know nothing of their whereabouts, other witnesses said. Some people told Beeley that the controversial White Helmets were also seen at the blast site, retrieving bodies of Al-Nusra and Ahrar al-Sham militants, but apparently leaving injured civilians.
See also: CNN dismisses victims: Children slain in Aleppo car bomb attack were 'Assad supporters'

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Info

UK consultancy states the obvious: US actions to weaken Syrian govt will empower ISIS


RT
Fri, 21 Apr 2017 21:28 UTC
ISIS fighters
© Reuters
Any attempt to act against the Syrian government will make Islamic State and other terror groups in the country stronger, London-based consultancy IHS Markit said in a recent report, calling such situation an "inconvenient reality" for Washington.

Over the last 11 months, 43 percent of Islamic State (Is, formerly ISIS/ISIL) military actions carried out were against the Syrian government forces of President Bashar Assad, the open-source data gathered by IHS Markit's Conflict Monitor revealed.

The US-backed "moderate opposition" accounted for 17 percent of IS fighting between April 1, 2016 and March 31, 2017, with the remaining 40 percent being the jihadists' skirmishes with rivaling rebel groups.

"It is an inconvenient reality that any US action taken to weaken the Syrian government will inadvertently benefit the Islamic State and other jihadist groups," Columb Strack, senior Middle East analyst at IHS Markit, said as cited by the company's website.
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No Entry

Trump administration quietly prepares for a government shutdown

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Fri, 21 Apr 2017 21:11 UTC
government shutdown
Even as Donald Trump is desperate to show to the US population, and especially his voter base, some actual achievement before his first 100 days run out next weekend, prompting him to tell AP that he will unveil a "tremendous" tax cut plan next week (recall he did the same in February), the Trump administration is quietly preparing for the possibility of a government shutdown, even though the president and his staff believe one is unlikely to occur.

As a reminder, the government will shut down midnight on April 28 if Congress cannot agree on a spending bill. As reported over the past week, the measure hit various snags over Trump's demands to include funding for Trump's border wall and a debate over money for an ObamaCare insurer subsidy program, both programs which virtually assure the spending bill will not pass.

As a result, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has begun to coordinate with government agencies to plan for a possible shutdown. "While we do not expect a lapse, prudence and common sense require routine assessments will be made," OMB Director Mick Mulvaney said in a statement.

The office set up a phone call to go over the agencies' shutdown plans, which could include steps such as furloughs for federal workers. The OMB said the plans were reviewed ahead of a possible shutdown last December and are unlikely to be revised.
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Attention

Russia-gate is not over: House Intel panel calls Comey, Clapper, Rogers, Brennan, and Yates to testify

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Fri, 21 Apr 2017 21:08 UTC
Just when you thought it was over - after Trump 'Tomahawks' Putin's pal Assad, and Tillerson trounces Lavrov - and the media had stopped the constant "Russia did it" narrative, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (which seems like as big an oxymoron as can occur) has called numerous current (and former) officials to testify once again on Russia's "active measures during the 2016 election."

As NBC Nightly News reports,

White House letter
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Attention

After Raqqa 'liberation', US to give control to rebels, not Syrian government

Whitney Webb
MintPress News
Thu, 20 Apr 2017 20:55 UTC
U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led Syria Democratic Forces raise their flag in the center of the town of Manbij after driving ISIS out of the area, in Aleppo province, Syria
© ANHA via APU.S.-backed, Kurdish-led Syria Democratic Forces raise their flag in the center of the town of Manbij after driving ISIS out of the area, in Aleppo province, Syria.
While the public justification for the presence of United States troops in Syria has long been focused on fighting the terror group Daesh (ISIS), the recent actions of the U.S. and its allies within Syria continue to suggest that fighting terrorism is merely a cover for a very different type of operation, one that seeks to keep Syria fragmented and destabilized long after any terrorists are defeated.

On Tuesday, the U.S.-allied militias that have been encircling Raqqa - the de facto stronghold of Daesh - announced that they had formed a "civilian council" to govern Raqqa after its capture from Daesh militants. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a U.S.-backed militia that comprises a large number of Syrian Kurds, claim to have spent six months setting up the council, with a preparatory committee having met "with the people and important tribal figures of Raqqa city to find out their opinions on how to govern it," Middle East Eye reported.

SDF spokesman Talal Selo stated that some towns near Raqqa had already been turned over to the council following a successful operation to drive out Daesh forces.
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Star of David

Why not probe 'Israel-gate'?

Robert Parry
Consortium News
Thu, 20 Apr 2017 20:06 UTC
Donald Trump
© AIPAC
The other day, I asked a longtime Democratic Party insider who is working on the Russia-gate investigation which country interfered more in U.S. politics, Russia or Israel. Without a moment's hesitation, he replied, "Israel, of course."

Which underscores my concern about the hysteria raging across Official Washington about "Russian meddling" in the 2016 presidential campaign: There is no proportionality applied to the question of foreign interference in U.S. politics. If there were, we would have a far more substantive investigation of Israel-gate.

The problem is that if anyone mentions the truth about Israel's clout, the person is immediately smeared as "anti-Semitic" and targeted by Israel's extraordinarily sophisticated lobby and its many media/political allies for vilification and marginalization.
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Jet5

Syrian military source: Israeli warplanes launch missile attack on Syrian Army in Quneitra


Sputnik
Fri, 21 Apr 2017 20:01 UTC
Israeli fighter jet
© AP Photo/ Ariel Schalit
Israeli aviation launched a missile attack on Syrian army's positions in the province of Quneitra bordering Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, a Syrian military source told Sputnik.

"Enemy warplanes of Israel launched two missiles from the occupied territory [Golan Heights] at 18:45 [local time] on one of the positions of our army. It caused material damage," the source told Sputnik.

According to the source, the strike was carried out when the Syrian army was repelling terrorists' attack in Quneitra.

"These actions will not stop the fight of our Armed Forces against terrorist groups which are close to Israel," the source added.
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