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Vice-presidential debate: A caricature matching the absurdity of US elections


RT
Wed, 05 Oct 2016 19:27 UTC
Vice presidential debate
© Kevin Lamarque / ReutersDemocratic U.S. vice presidential nominee Senator Tim Kaine shakes hands with Republican U.S. vice presidential nominee Governor Mike Pence
An honest politician can seem like an oxymoron, but two vice-presidential contenders vying to promote their candidacy required some stretching of the truth at least a few times. Here's a look at whose version of their candidate is the closest to reality.

The vice-presidential debates may not command the attention of an audience the way that presidential debates do, but that didn't stop the Democratic nominee Virginia Senator Tim Kaine and Republican nominee Indiana Governor Mike Pence from mudslinging like their lives depended on it. While the Wednesday debate in Virginia covered many different topics, three involved curious omissions of truth in particular: social security, the Iran deal and immigration.

Immigration

Kaine's view of a Trump presidency involves Children of Men-like mass deportations and said Trump and Pence, "want to go house to house, school to school, business to business and kick out 16 million people."

Meanwhile, Pence presented a borderless and lawless nation under a Hillary Clinton presidency.

Whose caricature of the other's campaign was the closest to the truth? Donald Trump has repeatedly made promises to expel illegal immigrants with a priority on criminals. But what exactly defines a criminal or how to find undocumented criminal has been vague at best.

Comment: There's no deep nor complex analysis that is needed for complete and utter garbage, which is what the US elections, debates, and it's entire political systems amounts to.

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Laptop

Snowden 2.0? FBI 'secretly arrests' NSA contractor for stealing malware


RT
Wed, 05 Oct 2016 18:01 UTC
NSA logo
© Reuters
The FBI "secretly arrested" a National Security Agency contractor on suspicion of stealing and revealing malware the NSA used to hack foreign governments, The New York Times reported, citing federal intelligence and law enforcement officials.

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden confirmed the existence of the malware, which was leaked in August. Portions of the classified computer codes used by the NSA were posted online, with hacking group "ShadowBrokers" offering the full program up for sale. US officials have blamed the hack on Russia.

The contractor's name is Hal Martin, and he is a Navy veteran, said the Baltimore Sun reporter Ian Duncan, citing the man's attorney. Martin worked for Booz Allan Hamilton, the same company that used to employ Snowden, before he blew the lid on NSA operations in 2013.

Citing unnamed government officials, The New York Times reported the contractor was arrested "in recent weeks." According to Duncan, Martin was arrested in late August and has already appeared before a judge.

Comment: See also:

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Binoculars

Assad nails it: 'US seeks to enforce global dominance by unleashing war on countries who oppose it'


RT
Wed, 05 Oct 2016 02:38 UTC
Assad
© SANA / ReutersSyria's democratically elected leader, President Bashar al-Assad
Washington's pursuit of hegemony has fallen short of its goal, causing havoc and collapse of states, Bashar Assad said in a new interview. Syria's head believes that US meddling in the conflict aims to "save what is left" from its fading global preeminence.

In an interview to Iranian magazine Tehran Foreign Policy Studies Quarterly on Wednesday, the Syrian president argued that the US resorts to force every time it fears a challenge to its clout and ability to control the international agenda unilaterally.

"United States builds its position on hegemony over other states and it has been the case since they took advantage of the USSR collapse and established unilateral control over this world up to this day," the president said, adding that the real motive behind US military interventions into foreign countries is to coerce them to submit to American authority, as in the case with Syria.

"Today, the United States are waging wars with the only goal to cement its project of total control by launching attack on everyone, who opposes its dominance," Assad said, noting that Washington "rejects" and "refuses to acknowledge" the nascent balance of powers in the world affairs and the rise of other states.
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Chess

Washington's suspension of talks with Russia represents renewed desire to topple Assad, says former Pentagon official


RT
Tue, 04 Oct 2016 18:36 UTC
Nusra Front fighters
© Stringer/Reuters Al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front fighters.
The US suspension of talks with Russia on a Syrian ceasefire represents a desire to go back and try to topple the Assad government, as well as a change in attitude toward Russia, former Pentagon official Michael Maloof told RT. On Monday the US suspended talks with Russia on the ceasefire agreement in Syria. The State Department accused Moscow of not fulfilling the obligations of the US-Russia deal.

Moscow blamed Washington for disrupting the ceasefire deal, saying the US is ready "to make a deal with the devil."

RT: What is your reaction to the action the US has taken?

Michael Maloof: That is a very unfortunate development and I think it bodes ill for any further effort on a bilateral basis between the US and Russia to try to continue the dialog to come to some conclusion toward a ceasefire, work on a ceasefire. We can't even get to the ceasefire, let alone try to talk about a transition government. I think it is unfortunate that they have suspended those talks.

Comment: Maloof makes a number of excuses for the United States under the cover of criticism. It should be quite apparent that the US was never interested in negotiation, diplomacy, or sincere talks about Syria. Russia has pushed for talks over and over again, only to be met with obfuscation, stalling, and even craven violence. There has been no change in policy. The US wants what it has always wanted in Syria: chaos and collapse. The question many have now is how far they are willing to go. They will likely follow the same course they have for decades, which would not be to directly engage in a 'hot war' but to continue pushing the boundaries through covert and cowardly maneuvers.

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Chess

If Russia wins Aleppo it's the end of American hegemony in the Middle East

M.K. Bhadrakumar
Asia Times
Wed, 05 Oct 2016 20:37 UTC
Russia's possible victory in Syria will mark the end of western hegemony over the Middle East, and historians are bound to single it out as the defining foreign-policy legacy of Obama's presidency.

On Monday, Barack Obama administration fulfilled its week-old threat to 'suspend' bilateral talks with Russia over Syrian crisis. Are the dogs of war being unleashed?

The thought may seem preposterous but tensions are palpable.
A rebel fighter stands on a lookout point in Kafr-Brisha village
© REUTERS/Khalil AshawiA rebel fighter stands on a lookout point in Kafr-Brisha village, northern Aleppo countryside, Syria October 4
The US spy planes are spotted ever more frequently in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea over Russian bases, especially Tartus and Hmeimim in Syria.

Russia has deployed SA-23 Gladiator anti-missile and anti-aircraft system in Syria, first-ever such deployment outside Russia. The western analysts see it as pre-emptive step to counter any American cruise missile attack. Russia is not taking chances.

The Defence Ministry in Moscow said the deployment is intended "to provide protection for the naval logistics facility in Tartus and the Russian Navy's task force".

Moscow factors in that US may use some rebel groups to ensure that Russian "body bags" are sent to Moscow, as threatened explicitly by US state department spokesman John Kirby last week. Moscow suspects American hand in the missile attack on the Russian embassy in Damascus - "Brits and Ukrainians clumsily helped the Americans", a Russian statement in New York said on Tuesday.

Indeed, passions are running high. There could be several dozen western intelligence operatives trapped with the rebel groups in east Aleppo. This is one thing.
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Stop

Russia temporarily suspends cooperation with US in nuclear and energy sectors


TASS
Wed, 05 Oct 2016 19:01 UTC
computers
© Ivan Guschin/ITAR-TASS
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has signed a decree on suspending an agreement between Russia and the US on cooperation in research and development in the nuclear and energy sectors. The relevant document has been posted on the Cabinet website on Wednesday.

"In connection with the imposition of restrictions on cooperation with the Russian Federation in nuclear energy by the United States of America ... to suspend the agreement between the government of the Russian Federation and the government of the United States of America on cooperation in research and development in the nuclear and energy sectors of September 16, 2013," the decree says.

Under this decree, the Russian Foreign Ministry has been instructed to send a written notification of the agreement's suspension to the US.

An explanatory note to the document points out that "the actions taken by the US in connection with imposing sanctions against Russia have directly affected the areas of cooperation envisaged by the agreement."

Comment: See also: Update: Putin suspends Russia-US deal on disposal of plutonium from decommissioned nuclear warheads over hostile US actions

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Hourglass

'Daesh in panic': Commanders now fleeing Mosul 'en masse' before major op by Iraqi military


Sputnik
Tue, 04 Oct 2016 17:49 UTC
Iraqi soldiers
© AP / Stringer
Daesh militants are fleeing Mosul, the group's stronghold in Iraq, since a long-awaited large-scale operation aimed at freeing the second largest city in the country is expected to be launched in the coming days, Said Mamuzini, a press secretary for the Kurdistan Democratic Party in Mosul, told Sputnik.

"As part of the operation the Iraqi Armed Forces and Peshmerga are shelling Daesh targets in the areas close to Mosul," he said. "Additional security measures have been taken on the border. According to our information, the militants are digging trenches around the city, as well as setting up traps using explosives and mines."

Comment: Watch the dregs of humanity run and scurry like rats as they command their underlings to leave droppings of deadly pestilence. A more despicable scene is difficult to find - even at these times.

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Megaphone

Zakharova: Washington's statements on Syria dictated by pre-election hysteria


TASS
Wed, 05 Oct 2016 18:54 UTC
zakharova
© Artyom Korotaev/TASS
Statements on relations with Russia, including on cooperation in Syria, that are coming from Washington are dictated by considerations of the ongoing election race, Maria Zakharova, the Russian Foreign Ministry's official spokesperson said on Wednesday in an interview with Vesti FM radio.

"They are amid a pre-election hysteria now," she said. "I'd like to stay within the limits of the diplomatic language but there's full-blown hysteria there. Very many political scientists say this is the dirtiest campaign there, as the levels of discussion and the agenda as such are disastrously low."

In the light of it, Zakharova has called for giving a less serious treatment to the utterances that come out of Washington.
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Heart

Russia to start using compulsory labor (with benefits) as alternative to imprisonment


TASS
Tue, 04 Oct 2016 18:31 UTC
prisoner working
© Pavel Lisitsyn / RIA NovostiPrisoners make woven furniture at Penal Colony No. 10, Yekaterinburg
Russia will start using compulsory labor as a new type of criminal punishment from next year, Deputy Director of the Federal Penitentiary Service Valery Maximenko told TASS on Tuesday.

According to Maximenko, "this is yet another alternative to the deprivation of freedom."

"Compulsory works and the stay at correctional centers ... can be compared to the work of persons on rotational shifts, working far away from their homes and living in hostels. There are only few restrictions - they cannot choose work on their own or leave the correctional center without the administration's permission," the deputy head of the Federal Penitentiary Service said.

"There are actually no other restrictions - they live in ordinary hostels and, once they serve a third of their punishment term, convicts may be permitted to live outside the center with their families but within a municipality where the correctional center is located," he added.

After the court passes its verdict, convicts go to the correctional center on their own to work under a labor contract. A convict can use a mobile phone and the Internet. Convicts who fall ill have the right to turn to doctors under a medical policy. They are also entitled to an 18-day vacation after the first six months of work. By a court decision, the state will retain from 5% to 20% of the convict's wages. Convicts will also have to reimburse the cost of living in a hostel and pay under lawsuits for damage recovery.

Comment: This form of compassionate treatment of prisoners stands in stark contrast to the quality of life that prisoners in the US have, where many are forced to work for pennies per day in what is essentially slave labor practice:

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2 + 2 = 4

Deconstructing lies: Russian view of the OPCW-UN JIM chemical attacks report on Syria

Dr Alexander Yakovenko
RT
Wed, 05 Oct 2016 10:26 UTC
People, affected
© Badi Khlif / ReutersPeople, affected by what activists say was a gas attack, receive treatment inside a makeshift hospital in Kfar Zeita village in the central province of Hama May 22, 2014.
The OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) has recently presented the UN Security Council with its third report, in which it alleges the Syrian Armed Forces were involved in two uses of chemical weapons in Syria.

While appreciating the significant amount of work done by the JIM and its experts, conclusions drawn by its leadership panel are hardly convincing. It has become obvious that due to objective reasons it had very little chance to conduct an effective investigation. One of the main problems was lack of access to the locations due to the dire security situation on the ground.

There are also other factors that have seriously affected the quality of the investigation, including it being carried out in some cases more than two years after the incident, some of the information was misleading, and sources of information were of second or third hand. The accusation against Damascus is mostly based on the testimonies of the "witnesses" handpicked by opposition NGO's, and the assumption that nobody but the government forces in Syria have access to aircraft, which could be used to drop barrel bombs filled with chlorine.


Comment: The author is no doubt referring, in part, to the 'White Helmets':

Comment: Clearly some levers have been pulled and some buttons pushed in the back rooms of the OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism so that the cries for "humanitarian intervention" can be further bolstered (and then implemented) by the US. The information war against the Assad government and Russian assistance in the Syrian war has hit a fever pitch - with the UN as one of its fields of battle.

See:

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