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Bad Guys

SOTT Focus: SOTT MINUTE: 'New' US Policy On Syria Is Not What It Seems!

Shane LaChance
Sott.net
Sun, 02 Apr 2017 13:00 UTC
Sott Minute Syria policy
© Sott.net
Transcript:

After six years of the United States setting up Assad as a brutal dictator, arming and funding terrorist 'moderate rebels', destroying Syrian infrastructure, laying waste to the Syrian nation, and initiating the refugee crisis, the US has decided maybe their genius plan to oust Assad wasn't the best idea after all. I'm Shane LaChance for Sott.net and this is The Sott Minute.

RT reports that US Ambassador Nikki Haley told reporters Thursday that the new administration has changed their priorities regarding 'Assad must go'.

Haley said,
"Our priority is no longer to sit there and focus on getting Assad out."

"Our priority is to really look at how do we get things done, who do we need to work with to really make a difference for the people in Syria."
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Bad Guys

Interview with Eva Bartlett: Lying Corporate Media & the Truth About Syria & Palestine


In Gaza
Mon, 03 Apr 2017 11:49 UTC
Syrian soldiers
© Rodi Said / Reuters
We had the honor to interview Eva Karene Bartlett. She is well known independent writer and rights activist with extensive experience in Syria and in the Gaza Strip, where she lived a cumulative three years (from late 2008 to early 2013). She documented the 2008/9 and 2012 Israeli war crimes and attacks on Gaza while riding in ambulances and reporting from hospitals.

Since April 2014, she has visited Syria 6 times, including two months in summer 2016 and once month in Oct/Nov 2016. Her early visits included interviewing residents of the Old City of Homs, which had just been secured from militants, and visiting historic Maaloula after the Aramaic village had been liberated of militants. In December 2015, Eva returned to old Homs to find life returning, small shops opened, some of the damaged historic churches holding worship anew, and citizens preparing to celebrate Christmas once again.

On her 5th visit in June-August 2016, she went twice to Aleppo, also visiting Palmyra, Masyaf, Jableh, Tartous, and Barzeh district of Damascus, as well as returning again to Maaloula and Latakia. On her sixth visit to Syria, in October and November, she visited Aleppo twice more, as well as areas around Damascus. The testimonies Eva gathered in Aleppo starkly contrasted narratives corporate media had been asserting. Many of her published Syria writings, videos, photos can be found at this link.
GLOBAL CIR: You come from Canada, a country which is in relation to the US a symbol peacefulness and regulated country. What was the decisive influence for you to begin with the social activism and independent journalism in the most turbulent and bloodiest part of the world, the Middle East?
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Bad Guys

US backstabbed Erdogan, now he gets to return the favor

M. K. Bhadrakumar
Indian Punchline
Mon, 03 Apr 2017 11:49 UTC
Tayyip Erdogan
© Kayhan Ozer / Reuters
The US game plan to frighten Erdogan and get him to fall in line on Syria has boomeranged

Prima facie, there is nothing in common between the arrest of a highly-connected Turkish banker in New York on Monday by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the arrival of the US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in Ankara two days later. But Turkish-American relationship has a long history of coercive diplomacy.

Turkey used to be a "frontline state" in the Cold War era and its importance as strategic asset is no less today for the US when Russian-American relations continue to deteriorate and old faultlines in Central Europe, the Balkans and the Black Sea are reappearing. (On Tuesday, US' top commander in Europe, Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti testified before the House Armed Services Committee in Washington seeking deployment of "armored and mechanized brigades" to Europe to deter Russia; on the same day, US Senate overwhelmingly approved the induction of Montenegro as the newest NATO member state.)
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Wall Street

Survey reveals Central banks ditching euro for Sterling


RT
Mon, 03 Apr 2017 11:42 UTC
British sterling currency
© Phil Noble / Reuters
Concerns over political instability, weak growth, and the European Central Bank's (ECB) negative interest rate policy have led central banks to cut euro exposure; the Financial Times reported, citing a survey of reserve managers at 80 central banks.

The results were compiled by the Central Banking trade publication and HSBC.

It shows that bankers from around the world see the UK as a safer prospect for their reserve investments than the eurozone. They favor the British currency as a long-term, stable alternative, despite uncertainty over Brexit which was formally triggered last week by the PM Theresa May.
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Snakes in Suits

Senior National Bank of Ukraine officials suspected of embezzling billions


Sputnik
Mon, 03 Apr 2017 10:51 UTC
National Bank of Ukraine building
© Wikipedia / Musia-97
Senior officials from the National Bank of Ukraine are being checked by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau on suspicion of the embezzlement of funds allocated for the refinancing of commercial banks, Bureau chief Artem Sytnik told Ukrainian television channel 1+1.

The checks follow on the reports that the National Bank was searched by the anti-corruption authority last week, which saw a number of Bank documents confiscated. According to Ukraine's anti-corruption regulator, the investigation is part of a criminal investigation into officials' abuse of office.

"We have been conducting a criminal investigation for several months now in which the management of the National Bank of Ukraine is involved; it is connected with the embezzlement of funds allocated to a number of commercial banks for refinancing," Sytnik said, speaking to the Ukrainian broadcaster on Sunday.

"We are checking on the legality of the spending on refinancing, and the involvement of the National Bank's management in this process," the official added.
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Stormtrooper

US Ambassador to UN Nikki Haley: Trump's not stopping me from beating up on Russia


RT
Sun, 02 Apr 2017 15:31 UTC
Nikki Haley
© Joshua Roberts / ReutersU.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley
US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley told ABC's 'This Week' that President Trump's less confrontational stance is not an obstacle to her "beating up on Russia." Also on the show, ex-Defense Secretary Ash Carter warned against inconsistency in US policy.

Appearing on the show on Sunday, Haley said other nations are "happy that we're finally beating up on Russia," and she believes Moscow was involved in meddling with the US election.

"Certainly, I think Russia was involved in the election. There's no question about that," she said.

Haley denied that her stance was at odds with the president's, saying she had his approval for what she was doing.
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Dig

Coming Deripaska case versus AP may open worm can

Paul Butler
New Eastern Outlook
Mon, 03 Apr 2017 09:52 UTC
Trump
Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska is all over mainstream media front pages over alleged misdeeds involving former Donald Trump aid Paul Manafort. The latest sensationalist claims revolve around a supposed Associated Press "scoop" that attempts to link Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin more closely together. The insanity that is a new McCarthyism threatens not only American ideals, but a world in a vice grip of globalist madness. If Deripaska proves the mainstream wrong the whole house of chaos cards may fall. Here's some thoughts on that.

The AP "scoop" in question condemns Deripaska and Manafort inside some 007 spy plot to influence the political landscape in America. Reporters Jeff Horwitz and Chad Day claim Manafort proposed to Deripaska:

Comment:
Putin: Tycoon Deripaska accused of ties with Trump's aide should speak in Congress

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2 + 2 = 4

Putin congratulates Vucic on winning Serbian presidential election


TASS
Mon, 03 Apr 2017 10:15 UTC
The Russian president also said that in Moscow Vucic is known as a strong supporter of boosting friendly relations between the two countries

Serbian President-elect Aleksandar Vucic
© EPA/ANDREJ CUKICSerbian President-elect Aleksandar Vucic

Vladimir Putin has sent a message of greetings to Serbian Prime Minister congratulating him on winning the presidential election, the Kremlin press service said in a statement.

"Your convincing election win points to wide popular support for your efforts aimed at solving pressing economic and social tasks facing Serbia, as well as at pursuing a meaningful and balanced foreign policy," the message reads.

Comment:
Acting Serbian PM Vucic wins presidential election - exit polls

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Newspaper

Acting Serbian PM Vucic wins presidential election - exit polls


RT
Mon, 03 Apr 2017 00:12 UTC
Aleksandar Vucic
© Antonio Bronic / Reuters Serbian Prime Minister and presidential candidate Aleksandar Vucic prepares his ballot at a polling station during the presidential election in Belgrade, Serbia, April 2, 2017.
The current head of the government in Serbia and leader of the ruling conservative Serbian Progressive Party, Aleksandar Vucic, has been elected as the Balkan country's president, exit polls show.

Based on 40 percent of votes counted from a sample of polling stations, Vucic won the Sunday election with around 55 percent of the vote, Reuters reported citing the CRTA and Ipsos polling groups. According to the exit poll results, there will be no run-off.
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War Whore

Who are the beneficiaries of conflict with Russia?

Brian Cloughley
Counterpunch
Fri, 31 Mar 2017 00:00 UTC
mic sigil
On January 30 NBC News reported that "On a snowy Polish plain dominated by Russian forces for decades, American tanks and troops sent a message to Moscow and demonstrated the firepower of the NATO alliance. Amid concerns that President Donald Trump's commitment to NATO is wavering, the tanks fired salvos that declared the 28-nation alliance a vital deterrent in a dangerous new world."

One intriguing aspect of this slanted account are the phrases "dominated by Russian forces for decades" and "vital deterrent" which are used by NBC to imply that Russia yearns, for some unspecified reason, to invade Poland. As is common in the Western media there is no justification or evidence to substantiate the suggestion that Russia is hell-bent on domination, and the fact that US troops are far from home, operating along the Russian border, is regarded as normal behaviour on the part of the world's "indispensable nation."

Then Reuters recorded that "Beginning in February, US military units will spread out across Poland, the Baltic states, Bulgaria, Romania and Germany for training, exercises and maintenance. The Army is also sending its 10th Combat Aviation Brigade with about 50 Black Hawk and 10 CH-47 Chinook helicopters and 1,800 personnel, as well as a separate aviation battalion with 400 troops and 24 Apache helicopters."
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