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Hypocrisy: When Kiev dropped chemical weapons on Donbass, the West didn't care (VIDEO)

Adam Garrie
The Duran
Thu, 06 Apr 2017 15:19 UTC
chemical weapons Ukraine
© Youtube/NEF Acura
In 2014, reports surfaced of the Kiev regime using chemical weapons in their war of aggression against Donbass. The story, including multiple videos and photographs of the dropping of apparent phosphorous bombs, interestingly appeared in Sputnik and the British Daily Mail (among other outlets), a highly popular, right-wing, pro-western newspaper and website.

Further video evidence emerged of the apparent war crime.
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SOTT Logo

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

Harrison Koehli
Sott.net
Fri, 07 Apr 2017 01:37 UTC
Trump
© Jim Lo Scalzo / Associated France Presse
The wicked witch of the west made an appearance at the Women of the World Summit in New York, calling on the forces of darkness to descend upon Syria in a blood sacrifice that would tame the gods' thirst for blood. Well, not quite, but pretty much. It was Hillary Clinton, and she had this to say:
"That air force is the cause of most of the civilian deaths, as we have seen over the years and as we saw again in the last few days," Clinton said. "I really believe that we should have — and still should — take out his airfields and prevent him from being able to use them to bomb innocent people and drop sarin gas on them," she added, referring to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and aligning herself with the likes of Iraq War architect Bill Kristol and neoconservatives such as Republican Senator John McCain.

Well, it appears that Trump has obliged. The likes of Clinton, McCain, and every other bloodthirsty maniac in the Washington war lobby are no doubt pleased. First things first, what is being reported?
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Info

Lessons learned from the Iran-Iraq war: Chemical weapons are ineffective, a waste of time and resources

Tony Cartalucci
Land Destroyer Report
Thu, 06 Apr 2017 00:00 UTC
chemical warfare
MiG warplanes, artillery, and superior ground forces are vastly more effective than chemical weapons used on any scale, especially in the minute quantities the US has repeatedly accused the Syrian government of using.

For a Western population weaned on Hollywood movies, ridiculous TV shows, and an endless torrent of misinformation from their corporate media news outlets, chemical weapons have been portrayed as "weapons of mass destruction," with even small amounts causing catastrophic devastation.

Under the best conditions, however, and with vast amounts of chemical agents, large casualties can be produced. But history has shown that generally, anything less than these circumstances would be a waste of time, resources, and of course in Syria's case, politically and strategically unjustifiable.

A document produced by the US Marine Corps, titled, "Lessons Learned: The Iran-Iraq War" under "Appendix B: Chemical Weapons," a comprehensive look at the all-out chemical warfare that took place during the devastating 8 year conflict is carefully documented. Several engagements are studied in detail, revealing large amounts of chemical agents deployed mainly to create areas of denial.
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Attention

'Zero chance I'm going anywhere': Bannon says reports he threatened to quit over NSC demotion are blatant lies


Daily Mail
Fri, 07 Apr 2017 13:49 UTC
Steve Bannon
Steve Bannon flatly denied a report that he threatened to quit from the White House, saying it is a 'total lie' planted by Democrats
President Donald Trump's chief strategist Steve Bannon denied on Thursday that he considered quitting his White House job following his removal from a key National Security Council committee.

It's a 'total lie,' Bannon said, pushed by 'Democrats getting crushed on policy.'

The former chairman of Breitbart News is seen as Trump's populist-conservative confidant and a balance to more centrist Republicans in the White House. His absence would dramatically swing the Oval Office away from the base that elected him.

Asked-point blank if there is any chance he's leaving the administration, Bannon replied: 'Zero.'

Comment: After high-level White House leaks portraying Bannon as ready to quit, he told his associates the stories are "100 percent nonsense" and he's playing for keeps - "I love a gunfight!"
Even for this leaky, rivalrous White House, the Bannon broadside was brutal. Numerous officials torched the senior adviser in media stories, did nothing to soften the Bannon-loses-power narrative and watched gleefully as Drudge and others trumpeted his fall. Truth is, the hatred between the two wings is intense and irreconcilable.

The two sides: The Bannonites believe the liberals staged a coup and will turn Trump into a conventional squish who betrays the very voters who brought him to power. The Jared wing thinks the Bannonites are clinically nuts.

Killing Bannon won't be easy: His staunchest ally is one of Trump's closest confidants — Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Kellyanne Conway will go to the mat for him, as will policy advisor Stephen Miller. He's also built strong relationships with other cabinet secretaries including Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin. In the end, though, family matters most and all but dad are done with Bannon and his politics.


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Arrow Up

Russian Deputy FM: Attempts to derail Syria conference into chemical attack blame game have failed


RT
Thu, 06 Apr 2017 18:11 UTC
Brussels conference Syria 2017
© Yves Herman / ReutersForeign Ministers and officials pose for a group photo as they take part in an international conference on the future of Syria and the region, in Brussels, Belgium, April 5, 2017.
Attempts by some members of the Brussels conference on Syria to redraw the agenda and focus on allegations of the Syrian government's complicity in the suspected chemical attack in Idlib have failed, Russia's deputy foreign minister has said.

"In what concerns this conference, of course, some tried to redirect it in order to focus attention on the incident that has occurred [in Idlib]. I must say that they failed to achieve that," said Gennady Gatilov, Russia's representative at the UN-sponsored international donor conference that was held on April 4-5 in Brussels.

Moscow hopes that the incident will not lead to the derailment of intra-Syrian talks as that would play into hands of those who strive to obstruct the peace process.

"Anything can affect the talks. But we would not like for such incidents to be used by opponents of the negotiation process to disrupt it," the Russian diplomat said, stressing that it is necessary for the negotiations to be inclusive.
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Jet4

Russian MoD: 6 MiG-23 aircraft destroyed in US airfield strike, runway left undamaged


RT
Fri, 07 Apr 2017 09:41 UTC
Shayrat airfield
© DigitalGlobe / Courtesy U.S. Department of Defense / Handout via ReutersShayrat Airfield in Homs, Syria satellite image released by US Defense Department April 6, 2017.
Six MiG-23 fighter jets were destroyed in the US missile strike on a Syrian airfield in Homs province, but the runway remained intact, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense. The strike on the Shayrat airfield in Syria's Homs Province destroyed a material storage depot, a training facility, a canteen, six MiG-23 aircraft in repair hangars and a radar station. The runway, taxiways and the Syrian aircraft on the parking apron remained undamaged, Russia's Defense Ministry spokesman said in a statement.The ministry described the combat efficiency of the strike as "quite poor."

"On April 7, 2017, between 3:42am and 3:56am Moscow time, two US Navy destroyers (USS Porter and USS Ross) fired 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at Shayrat airfield in Homs Province, Syria, from an area near the Island of Crete in the Mediterranean Sea. "According to our sources, only 23 of them reached the Syrian airbase," Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major-General Igor Konashenkov said, adding that the points of impact of the other 36 cruise missiles remain unknown.

The ministry also slammed the US actions as "a gross violation" of the memorandum of understanding signed by Moscow in Washington back in 2015 to prevent flight incidents in Syrian airspace. All justifications for the strike are "groundless claims," the ministry continued.

"Russia made an earlier statement that the Syrian forces did not use chemical weapons. We are waiting for clarification from the US on undisputed - as they claim - evidence that it was the Syrian Army that deployed chemical weapons in the town of Khan Sheikhoun."

The ministry also pointed to the events that followed the strikes, a large-scale offensive against the Syrian Army carried out by Islamic State and Al-Nusra Front terrorists. "We hope that this offensive was in no way coordinated with the US," the ministry said.

"A number of measures aimed at strengthening and improving the effectiveness of the Syrian air defense system will be implemented in the near future in order to protect the vital parts of the Syrian infrastructure," Konashenkov said.
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Jet5

Russian Foreign Ministry announces suspension of flight safety memorandum over Syria after US missile strike


RT
Fri, 07 Apr 2017 08:02 UTC
Lavrov
© Al-Masdar News
Russia has suspended the memorandum of understanding on flight safety in Syria with the United States amid the US missile strike on Syria's Shayrat military airfield, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry's statement. "Without bothering to investigate anything, the US went forward with a demonstration of force, a military confrontation with a country that is fighting international terrorism," the Foreign Ministry's statement reads.

The US launched some 60 Tomahawk missiles at the Syrian military airbase in the Homs governorate early on Friday. The attack came after US President Donald Trump pinned the blame for an alleged chemical attack in Idlib on Syria's government.

"Obviously, the cruise missile attack was prepared beforehand. Any expert can tell that the decision to strike was made in Washington before the events in Idlib, which were used as a pretext for a demonstration," the statement reads.

The Memorandum on air safety was signed in October 2015, after Russia came to Syria to fight international terrorism at the invitation of the country's government. The document of understanding was designed to prevent possible mishaps between the Russian and US Air Forces operating independently in the region.

Russia's Foreign Ministry has condemned the attack as an example of the "reckless attitude" that has only worsened "existing world issues" and created a "threat to international security."

Comment: Russia made clear the rules of engagement and now is following through based on the circumstances at hand. The depth and breadth of the consequences TBD.

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Megaphone

'Stop backing terrorists in Syria if you want to protect Europe': Assad interview before US strike


RT
Fri, 07 Apr 2017 11:17 UTC
President Bashar al-Assad
© SANA / Reuters Syria's President Bashar al-Assad



Comment: The following interview was apparently given before a suspected chemical attack took place on Tuesday in Syria's Idlib province.


European countries that have recently been hit by a wave of terrorist attacks must stop supporting the terrorists in Syria if they want to stop the onslaught, Syrian President Bashar Assad said days before the US launched a missile strike on Homs. In an interview with Croatian newspaper Vecernji List on April 3 that was released on Thursday, Assad stressed that if there had been cooperation between Syria and Europe, some of the attacks that rocked Europe might have been prevented. However, such cooperation won't be effective until Europe withdraws its support for the jihadists, he argued.

"In any case, we do not have any other option except victory. If we do not win this war, it means that Syria will be deleted from the map," he said.

"If Europe wants to protect itself at this stage, it should first stop supporting terrorists in Syria. Assuming that we wanted to cooperate with them, no results can be achieved in these circumstances," Assad said, adding that "in normal circumstance" terrorist attacks could be prevented via security cooperation. The Syrian leader noted that "a number of European countries" have put obstacles in the way of peace by funneling support to militants in Syria, "directly or indirectly," in the form of "arms, money, political cover, and everything."

Comment: The West could learn a thing or two about real democracy from President Assad.
See also:

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Passport

European Parliament approves visa-free travel for Ukrainians


RFE/RL
Thu, 06 Apr 2017 10:24 UTC
Child holding Ukraine flag near EU flag
The European Parliament has approved visa liberalization for Ukraine, a crucial step toward enabling Ukrainians to travel to the European Union without obtaining visas.

The measure passed on April 6 by a vote of 521 to 75, with 36 EU lawmakers abstaining.

EU member states must also approve visa liberalization for Ukraine before the measure enters into force.

Ambassadors representing the 28 EU member states are expected to approve the deal when they meet in Brussels on April 26, and EU sources have told RFE/RL that EU ministers are expected to rubber-stamp the decision on May 11.

The deal would be sealed in a signing ceremony expected shortly after that.

Comment: Ukraine online passport service down after EU votes for visa-free travel
The state-operated Ukrainian website pasport.org.ua was not available on Tuesday, citing an exceeded resource limit. The service went down after the European Parliament voted in favor of granting Ukraine visa-free travel.

The website later returned, but a warning notified that it was not operational "for technical reasons."

This happened after the European Parliament voted 521 to 75 in favor of granting Ukrainian citizens entry into the EU with no visa. The promise of visa-free travel to Europe has been one of the core points for the current Ukrainian government, which came to power on the wave of protests in 2014.

The deadline for the fulfillment of the promise voiced by President Petro Poroshenko was pushed back many times, irritating voters. The president's approval rating in Ukraine is only just in double digits, as the country endures economic hardship, rampant corruption, hostilities in the east, and austerity measures imposed by the government at the demand of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The Ukrainian president welcomed the news of the vote, which he received during a security forum in Kiev, a video published by his spokesman showed.


"I congratulate everyone who contributed to it! And all Ukrainians," he said before shaking hands with his former prime minister, Arseny Yatsenyk, and his successor Vladimir Groysman.


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Snakes in Suits

Is Britain selling its soul to Saudi Arabia amid EU divorce?

Catherine Shakdam
RT
Fri, 07 Apr 2017 09:58 UTC
Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud welcomes British Prime Minister Theresa May
© Bandar Algaloud / Courtesy of Saudi Royal Court / Handout via ReutersSaudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud welcomes British Prime Minister Theresa May in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, April 5, 2017.
Change is most definitely in the air this April. Britain's very own unelected Prime Minister, Ms. Theresa May, has thrown all caution to the wind as she chose to court Saudi Arabian royals ahead of what is set to be a messy EU divorce.

We all know it; the United Kingdom is walking itself out of the European Union, courtesy of one referendum and an ongoing controversy as to whether or not THAT historic break will eventually explode Britain and leave its economy, never mind its borders, worse for wear. However one chooses to look at Brexit: good, bad, catastrophically ugly, one truth remains - Britain will need to reinvent itself financially, and more to the point, Britain will have to find itself new economic partners in its pursuit of survival.
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