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US Operations-Centcom: Russia's counter-Daesh in Syria actions helpful


Sputnik
Wed, 29 Mar 2017 19:30 UTC
General Votel
© Defense NewsUS Army General Joseph Votel, CENTCOM
Russian operations against Daesh in Syria have been aiding US counterterrorism efforts in the country, Central Command head Gen. Joseph Votel said in a testimony at the US House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday. "Now in these cases they fight ISIS [Daesh], so to the extent that they are doing that, that is, I would admit, helpful to what we are doing," Votel stated when commenting on Russia's operations in Syria.

The commander claimed that during operations in Syria Russia had been mostly focused on helping the government of President Bashar Assad accomplish some of their objectives in the western part of the country. "Russia has achieved probably many of the objectives that they set out to pursue as they got in there," Votel stated.

He claimed some of the objectives included access to ports and air fields in the country, as well as increasing influence in the region.

Moreover, the US wants to make the deconfliction channel with Russia for operations in Syria more robust, Votel added. "We do share a very congested airspace with the Russians. We have a deconfliction mechanism in place...We are looking to make that a little bit more robust to ensure that we continue our freedom of action here," Votel said in a testimony at the US House Armed Services Committee.

Comment: Finally, acknowledgement and compliment to Russia, though phrasing it as if the US is in charge.

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Radar

Scheduled Russian exercises feed NATO worries

Julian E. Barnes
The Wall Street Journal
Wed, 29 Mar 2017 00:00 UTC
Military chopper
© ALEXEI DRUZHININ/RIA NOVOSTI/KREMLIN/REUTERS
Western military commanders are concerned that large-scale Russian military exercises near the Baltic states in September pose heightened risks for a miscalculation that could lead to a crisis, allied officials said.

In a move likely to further heighten tensions, the U.S. Senate on Tuesday approved Montenegro's bid to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, an initiative Moscow has bitterly opposed. Officials of the Balkan nation have said Moscow backed a coup attempt there last year to derail the effort. Russia has denied involvement.


Comment: What better way to get a speed pass into NATO than to come up with one more "Bad Russia" aggression scenario - true or false.


The exercises, which Western officials estimate will involve nearly 100,000 troops, will be the first to roll out after a new NATO force in the region reaches full strength. They will also take place at the same time as military drills by Western forces in Sweden, across the Baltic Sea.


Comment: Zapad: NATO says Russia will participate with 100K Russian troops. Russia says only 3000. A 97K over-estimation? Either NATO is just not good at this sort of prediction or it is stoking the fear factor to justify its presence in the Balkans.


U.S. and NATO officers have warned this year's version of Russia's annual Zapad exercises could create more tensions than they have in years, even recalling those that arose during the Cold War.

Comment: Russia has drills that include Russia. The US has its own and NATO drills that span many militaries. One of these is not like the other. Who is creating the 'tension?'

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Snakes in Suits

Turkey announces 'Euphrates Shield' operation in Syria completed


RT
Wed, 29 Mar 2017 18:33 UTC
Euphrates Shield
© EUTERS/ Revolutionary Forces of Syria Media OfficeTurkish army tanks involved in Euphrates Shield.
The Turkish military has successfully completed its 'Euphrates Shield' operation in northern Syria, the Turkish National Security Council has announced. The NSC meeting on Wednesday was attended by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

"It was noted that the Operation 'Euphrates Shield' which was started with the goal of ensuring national security, preventing the threat from Daesh (Arabic acronym for Islamic State) and return of Syrian refugees to their homes has successfully completed," the NSC said in a statement.

The conclusion of the Euphrates Shield operation was also confirmed by Turkey's Prime Minister, Binali Yildirim. The PM told the NTV broadcaster the operation had been successful and that further Turkish military actions would be conducted under a different name.

Turkey launched the Euphrates Shield operation on August 24, 2016, with the aim of clearing the border with Syria of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) and Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) forces — both classed as terrorist organizations by Ankara. In the course of the operation Turkey has been supporting the Free Syrian Army (FSA) on the ground.

The Syrian government has criticized the presence of Turkish troops as an "act of aggression" and asked the UN Security Council to "force Turkey to withdraw its invasion forces."

Comment: Military plans to suit the agenda of one state adds cross-purposes and confusion to any joint-party plan going forward. Turkey, as we have come to expect, wants something out of the Syrian war for itself and is likely to sacrifice the overall partnership goal for its unendorsed mandate. It will play along and parlay its cooperation with the US and Russia until it sees clear to achieve its obsession: the obliteration of the Kurds.

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Snakes in Suits

Congressional Representative Adam Schiff is a Traitor to America and to Humanity


Paul Craig Roberts
Tue, 28 Mar 2017 00:00 UTC
Adam Schiff
Adam Schiff is a traitor to the United States. Indeed, to all of humanity. Yes, he is a Jew, but America has many loyal Jews. What makes Schiff a traitor is not that he is a Jew. He is a traitor, because he is undermining American democracy and the forces for peace.


Comment: Perhaps PCR is so leery of being labeled an "anti-semite!" that he felt compelled to start his article on such a defensive note!


The Clintons and the Democratic Leadership Council sold out the Democratic constituency, that is, the working class and peace, because they were convinced that they could get more money from Wall Street, the global corporations, and the military/security complex than they could from the labor unions.

The labor unions were going to be destroyed by jobs offshoring and the relocation of US manufacturing abroad. This relocation of American manufacturing would destroy the budgets of the state and local governments in America's manufacturing regions and result in fierce pressure on the public sector unions, which are being destroyed in turn.

Comment: See also:

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Eye 2

North Korea threatens war with US after John McCain brands Kim Jong-un a 'crazy fat kid'


RT
Thu, 30 Mar 2017 21:44 UTC
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un
© KCNA / via Reuters / ReutersNorth Korean leader Kim Jong Un
John McCain has managed to infuriate North Korea after criticizing both Kim Jong-un's politics and physique in one scathing "crazy fat kid" insult. Pyongyang has warned of "disastrous consequences," claiming the comments are a "declaration of war."

McCain didn't mince his words when referring to Kim during an interview with MSNBC last week, stating that "China is the only one that can control Kim Jong-un, this crazy fat kid that's running North Korea."


"They could stop North Korea's economy in a week," he added.

While the comment provoked giggles across the West, Pyongyang was anything but amused.

A North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said McCain offended the dignity of the country with his comments, as well as its supreme leadership, the official KCNA news service reported on Tuesday.
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Info

Putin blasts opposition politicians for using protests as 'campaign spin'


RT
Thu, 30 Mar 2017 18:58 UTC
Vladimir Putin
Russia's president has said it is wrong for political figures to use anti-corruption campaigns for political advantage rather than actually try to do something about it, while noting that his administration and allies have always been staunchly anti-corruption.

"We persistently stand for fighting corruption," President Vladimir Putin told reporters on Wednesday at the International Arctic Forum in Russia's northwestern city of Arkhangelsk. "The problem has become lesser in recent times, public opinion polls testify to that," he noted.

"But I think that it is not right when certain political forces attempt to use this tool for their own promotion, including electoral campaigns, instead of trying to improve the situation in the country," Putin said.

"This tool was used in the Arab Spring events and we know very well what the results of those events were. The same tool was used as an excuse for the coup d'état in Ukraine that has driven that country into chaos," Putin added.
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Snakes in Suits

'Soviet active measures': Hearing on Russian influence resurrects Cold War tropes


RT
Thu, 30 Mar 2017 18:47 UTC
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Sen. Richard Burr, R, (R-NC) and ranking Democrat Sen. Mark Warner, L, (D-VA)
© Kevin Lamarque / Reuters Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Sen. Richard Burr, R, (R-NC) and ranking Democrat Sen. Mark Warner, L, (D-VA)
Though the leaders of the US Senate Intelligence panel said they would follow the facts and not jump to conclusions, their first open hearing on "Russian influence" in elections was short on the former and replete with the latter.

Thursday morning's hearing of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence proceeded from the assumption that Russia "sought to hijack our democratic process," as Ranking Member Mark Warner (D-Virginia) said in his opening remarks, as if it was a proven fact, with one senator after another inquiring only as to the why and the how.
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Vader

Urban graveyard: Mosul refugees slam U.S. coalition's indiscriminate bombing of homes, schools and hospitals


RT
Thu, 30 Mar 2017 05:44 UTC
Mosul bombing
Exploring the destroyed parts of Mosul, RT has been able to gather more evidence in support of Amnesty International's report which accuses the US-led coalition and Iraqi government of indiscriminately bombing houses with civilians inside along with ISIS targets.

The debris of destroyed houses, schools and hospitals have turned Iraq's second largest city into an urban graveyard after the US-led coalition and Iraqi government forces launched the offensive in October to liberate the city.

With explosions and gunfire heard in the distance, RT's crew saw US-led coalition jets heading to and from Mosul every 5 - 10 minutes on Tuesday night. They also witnessed an Iraqi helicopter launching missiles at IS targets on Wednesday and heard chilling stories of how Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) terrorists continue to use civilians as human shields during airstrikes.


Comment: Russian FM spokeswoman Maria Zakharova aptly described Operation Mosul as a medieval massacre adding that nothing was done to protect, evacuate or otherwise help civilians. They have been on their own in harm's way without humanitarian or any other aid and as endangered by US terror-bombing as ISIS fighters.

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Snakes in Suits

Poroshenko orders cease-fire in Eastern conflict zone


RFE/RL
Thu, 30 Mar 2017 18:40 UTC
Petro Poroshenko
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has ordered the military to implement a cease-fire and weapons pullback in the conflict region in eastern Ukraine beginning on April 1.

Poroshenko made the announcement on March 30 in Malta, where he was meeting with European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker.

Porosehnko said that he is "not very optimistic" that the Russia-supported rebels controlling parts of two eastern Ukrainian regions will abide by the agreement, which was reached in Minsk on March 29.
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Info

'Assad must go' no more: US government shifts priorities in Syria


RT
Thu, 30 Mar 2017 18:32 UTC
Nikki Haley
© Mike Segar / Reuters
Washington's priorities in Syria have changed with the new administration, and the US will no longer focus on the removal of President Bashar Assad as a condition for ending the six-year civil war, a top official said.

"Our priority is no longer to sit there and focus on getting Assad out," Ambassador Nikki Haley told a small group of reporters on Thursday.

"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."

Earlier in the day, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that the future of President Assad "will be decided by the Syrian people."
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