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Trump's runs with the rabid war dogs

Finian Cunningham
Sputnik News
Fri, 07 Apr 2017 18:25 UTC
Tomahawks
© AP Photo/Ford Williams/U.S. NavyIn this image provided by the U.S. Navy, the guided-missile destroyer USS Porter (DDG 78) launches a tomahawk land attack missile in the Mediterranean Sea, Friday, April 7, 2017.
So the brash, big-mouth tycoon in the White House with an outsized ego has finally unleashed the dogs of war in Syria.

Invoking God and the suffering of "little babies", the supposed US Commander-in-Chief Donald Trump ordered the bombing of Syria with cruise missiles launched from warships in the Mediterranean.

A Syrian airbase was destroyed, along with several casualties, and civilians reportedly among the dead.

This was while Trump was digesting a dinner of steak and carrots in his Florida beach resort on Thursday night.

Trump has styled himself as a hard-nosed and "unpredictable" American president.

The bitter irony here is that everything Trump is doing in his latest act of illegal war is actually so predictable.

The US political establishment - driven as it always is by the imperative need of waging wars to shore up its crumby capitalist economy - has been baying for all-out deployment in Syria for the past six years.

Since Washington instigated its criminal regime-change operation against the sovereign government of Syria in March 2011, the hawkish establishment was never quite satisfied with the strategy of using proxy terror groups to do the dirty work. Direct military intervention to topple the Syrian state has always been on the cards as the preferred method.

The Deep State establishment - or the War Party comprising both Republicans and Democrats in hock to the military-intelligence apparatus - thought they would get their way with the election of warmonger Hillary Clinton last November. Alas, the surprise election of Trump to the presidency temporarily upset their militarist agenda.

But the advent of Trump to the White House was only a hitch for the powers-that-be. The relentless Deep State-driven media witch-hunt against Trump over ridiculous allegations of being a Russian puppet has evidently prevailed.
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Bad Guys

New U.S. Air Support On Request Scheme For Al-Qaeda In Syria

b
Moon of Alabama
Fri, 07 Apr 2017 19:40 UTC
Syrian army airbase that was hit by a U.S. strike near the city of Homs, Syria, 7 April, 2017
© Mikhail Voskresensky / SputnikSyrian army airbase that was hit by a U.S. strike near the city of Homs, Syria, 7 April, 2017
On this day one hundred years ago the U.S. joined World War I. Last night the U.S. attacked a Syrian government airport in an openly hostile and intentional manner. The strike established a mechanism by which al-Qaeda can "request" U.S. airstrikes on Syrian government targets. It severely damaged the main support base for Syria's fight against the Islamic State in eastern Syria. The event will possibly lead to a much larger war.

On April 4 Syrian airplanes hit an al-Qaeda headquarter in Khan Sheikoun, Idleb governate. Idleb governate is under al-Qaeda control. After the air strike some chemical agent was released. The symptoms shown in videos from local aid stations point to a nerve-agent. The release probably killed between 50 and 90 people. It is unknown how the release happened.

It is unlikely that the Syrian government did this:
  • In 2013 the Syrian government had given up all its chemical weapons. UN inspectors verified this.
  • The target was militarily and strategically insignificant.
  • There was no immediate pressure on the Syrian military.
  • The international political atmosphere had recently turned positive for Syria.
Even if Syria had stashed away some last-resort weapon this would have been the totally wrong moment and totally wrong target for using it. Over the last six year of war the Syrian government army had followed a political and militarily logical path. It acted consistently. It did not act irrational. It is highly unlikely that it would have now take such an illogical step.

The chemical used, either Sarin or Soman, was not in a clean form. Multiple witnesses reported of a "rotten smell" and greenish color. While the color would point to a mixture with Chlorine the intense smell of Chlorine is easily identifiable, covers up most other odors and would have been recognized by witnesses. Both Sarin and Soman are in pure form colorless, tasteless and odorless. The Syrian government once produced nerve agents on a professional, large scale base. Amateurishly produced nerve-gases are not pure and can smell (example: Tokyo subway incident 1995). It is unlikely that the Syrian government experts would produce a "rotten smelling", dirty, low quality stuff in an unprofessional and dangerous process.

Comment: See also: Killary crawls out of her hole, calls for U.S. to "take out Assad's airfields", Trump obliges, bombs Syrian airbase with 50+ Tomahawks

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Jet5

Deputy Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Department on New Challenges and Threats Dmitry Feoktistov says Russian strikes kill 35,000 terrorists, 204 commanders in Syria in 2 years


Sputnik
Fri, 07 Apr 2017 19:28 UTC
Russian helicopters Mi-24p airstrake the terrorists' positions 20 km outside Palmyra
© Sputnik/ Mikhail VoskresenskiyRussian helicopters Mi-24p airstrake the terrorists' positions 20 km outside Palmyra
Russian counterterrorism strikes in Syria have eliminated some 35,000 terrorists and 204 field commanders since September 2015, Deputy Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Department on New Challenges and Threats Dmitry Feoktistov said in text of a speech prepared for delivery.

"Since the beginning of the counterterrorist operation against ISIL [Daesh] and other terrorist groups in Syria in September 2015, the Russian Aerospace Forces have made over 19,000 sorties launching 17,000 strikes on terrorists' infrastructure, eliminating...35,000 terrorists, including 204 field commanders," Feoktistov noted in the text.
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Rocket

South Korea tests ballistic missile that can successfully target entire North - report


RT
Thu, 06 Apr 2017 09:05 UTC
South Korea's cruise missiles
© Kim Hong-Ji / ReutersSouth Korea's cruise missiles Hyunmoo-3 and Hyunmoo-2
South Korea has reportedly achieved a goal it set four years ago and successfully developed a ballistic missile with a range of 800 kilometers, which is sufficient to hit any target in North Korean territory from anywhere in the South.

"There was a test-firing recently of a Hyunmoo-type ballistic missile with a range of 800km at the Anheung test site of the Agency for Defense Development (ADD) under the wing of the Defense Ministry," Yonhap news agency cited a defense source as saying on Tuesday, adding "It's assessed that it was successful."

The source said that South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo had overseen the missile test, which reportedly met specifications for accuracy, flight parameters, and warhead yield, though it added the test flight had been shorter than 800 kilometers due to South Korea's space limitations.

Comment: See also: 'Threat to planes and ships': Japan fumes as North Korea test-launches another ballistic missile

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Snakes in Suits

Delinquency on show: The loathsome Western media conspiracy theories about St. Petersburg 'false flag' attack


RT
Wed, 05 Apr 2017 15:12 UTC
St. Petersburg attack western conspiracy theories
© Zamir Usmanov / Global Look Press The English language is bereft of words strong enough to describe the nasty, loathsome and repugnant twisting of the tragedy by the Western presstitutes.
To describe the reaction of some of the Western media's favorite "Russia experts" to the horrendous attack in St. Petersburg as "disgusting" is to downplay the delinquency on show.

Sadly, the English language is bereft of words strong enough to describe the nasty, loathsome and repugnant twisting of the tragedy.

That said, it also proves, once and for all, how a lot of these imposters either have no genuine expertise on the country or are mentally unhinged. Or both. And, worse still, they've polluted discourse to such an extent that when it comes to coverage of Russia these days, anything goes. So long as it's negative, of course.
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Eye 2

Senate Republicans 'go nuclear' to confirm Gorsuch for US Supreme Court


RT
Fri, 07 Apr 2017 09:46 UTC
Neil Gorsuch
© James Lawler Duggan / ReutersU.S. Supreme Court nominee judge Neil Gorsuch
Republicans in the US Senate have extended the so-called nuclear option to the confirmation process for the US Supreme Court, scrapping a 100-year-old rule to overcome the Democrats' resistance to President Donald Trump's nominee, Neil Gorsuch.

The "nuclear option" - overriding a rule or procedure with a simple majority of 51 senators - was invoked after the minority Democrats cast 45 votes against cloture, filibustering Gorsuch's nomination. Trump nominated Gorsuch to fill the vacancy left by last February's passing of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

After extensive hearings in the Senate Judiciary Committee, Democrats declared that Gorsuch was not a "mainstream candidate," and that they could not support him.

"There cannot be two sets of standards, one for the nominees of a Democratic president and another for the nominees of a Republican president," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) declared on the Senate floor on Thursday morning.

Comment: See also:

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Vader

U.S. act of revenge: Observations from Syrian political commentator Afra'a Dagher

Afra'a Dagher
The Duran
Fri, 07 Apr 2017 16:09 UTC
syria destruction
© Hosam Katan / Reuters Aleppo
It would be completely naive to accept American allegations about the supposed chemical attacks on Idlib which occurred three days ago. It was an obvious and odious lie which America then passed on as fact, without allowing a full independent investigation. Yet America believed it, or at least pretended to believe it and their response was to launch 59 American Tomahawk missiles on Syrian airfield Al- Sha'ayrat in Homs province.

The Al-Sha'ayrat airbase was the place from which Syria fired anti-missile Sam rockets at attacking Israeli warplanes, two weeks ago. Syria downed one of the four warplanes, hit another and forced the remaining two fighter jets to quickly fly out of Syrian airspace.

This sent a strong message to Israel, a state which continues to illegally occupy Syrian territory, in addition to the decades long occupation of Palestine.
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Arrow Down

Demonization in action: Speakers at rebuilding Syria conference facing abuse for working with Assad government


RT
Fri, 07 Apr 2017 10:12 UTC
Syria
© Mike Theiler / Reuters
Speakers at a conference on rebuilding war-torn Syria are facing abuse for sharing a platform with Assad government ministers.

The event on Wednesday and Thursday in London, 'Syria - Six Years On: From Destruction to Reconstruction,' is hosted by the European Centre for the Study of Extremism (EuroCSE), an independent Cambridge-based institute founded to combat the spread of extreme ideologies and terrorism.

The conference aims to "kick-start the creation of effective dialog by promoting national reconciliation across Syria."

Baroness Caroline Cox, US politician Dennis Kucinich, former Church of England head Lord Rowan Williams and Iranian Ambassador to the UK Hamid Baeidinejad are among the event's 30 speakers.
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Stock Down

Greece & Eurogroup creditors agree key economic reforms


RT
Fri, 07 Apr 2017 16:01 UTC
greek flag eu flag
© Alkis Konstantinidis / Reuters
After months of stalled talks, Athens and the eurozone finance ministers on Friday reached a breakthrough agreement on economic reforms. The deal is vital to unlocking new loans from the €86 billion bailout program.

According to Eurogroup chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloem, Greece agreed on instituting economic measures worth two percent of the nation's gross domestic product (GDP).

Half of that should come in 2019, mainly through pension reform, and the rest in 2020 through changes to income tax, he said.

"We have an agreement on the overarching elements of policy, in terms of size, timings and sequencing of reforms, and on that basis, further work will continue in the coming days," Dijsselbloem told reporters, noting "significant progress" in talks with the Greek government.

Comment: The looting of Greece is almost complete.

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Георгиевская ленточка

Kremlin spokesman: Moscow's support for Damascus 'not unconditional,' Assad doesn't follow Russia's orders


RT
Thu, 06 Apr 2017 15:43 UTC
peskov
© Sergey Guneev / Reuters Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov
The assistance that Russia lends to the government of President Bashar Assad in resolving the Syrian crisis is "not unconditional," Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov told AP, adding that Moscow cannot just make Assad follow its orders.

Russia and the Syrian government are engaged into "a relationship of cooperation, of exchange of views and full mutual support," Peskov said, stressing that their relations are equitable and not hierarchical.

He admitted that Moscow's support of Damascus is not unconditional by saying that "unconditional support is not possible in this current world," but stressed that "it is not correct to say that Moscow can convince Mr. Assad to do whatever is wanted in Moscow."

Comment: The U.S. has taken its own action in Syria. Russia's response has been muted. Is a deeper game being played?

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