Puppet MastersS


Newspaper

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: Iran must stand strong against US on region conflicts


Yahoo! News
Sun, 18 Sep 2016 00:00 UTC
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
© AFP PhotoIran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei addresses the commanders of Revolutionary Guards during a meeting in Tehran, on September 18, 2016
Iran's supreme leader said the Islamic republic must stand strong against Washington on the region's conflicts, in an address Sunday to commanders of the elite Republican Guards force.

"The Americans insist we negotiate with them on regional issues, especially on Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in the speech published on his official website.

"What is their main goal for requesting these talks? They have no aim but to prevent the presence in the region of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the main factor of America's failures," said Khamenei.
Read More...
Chess

Offensive Defence: Balochistan is now officially an arrow in India's quiver against Pakistan

Manu Balachandran
Quartz India
Fri, 16 Sep 2016 00:00 UTC
Modi-Sharif
© Reuters/Narendra ShresthaLet's play a new game.
There are four ways of dealing with a recalcitrant rival, according to Chanakya, the ancient Indian political philosopher and economist. They are saam, daan, bhed, and dand, roughly translating into talks, material offers, division, and punishment.

After decades of trying the first, talks, India seems to have decidedly opted for the third strategy, bhed, with regards to Pakistan over its inclination to nose around in Kashmir. The entity India has chosen to focus on is Balochistan, a particularly restive, mineral-rich region that is also the neighbour's largest province.

"This is a country (Pakistan), which has systematically abused and violated the human rights of its own citizens, including in Balochistan," Ajit Kumar, India's ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations (UN), said on Sept. 14.

Comment: Only time will tell the implications of this new strategy. See also:

Washington gets the Modi blues as India's leader keeps going off the Empire's script

Read More...
Bad Guys

Washington gets the Modi blues as India's leader keeps going off the Empire's script

M K Bhadrakumar
India Punchline
Mon, 19 Sep 2016 17:57 UTC
Modi India BRICS
© Ivan Sekretarev / ReutersIndian Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Against the backdrop of the upheaval in Jammu & Kashmir and ensuing India-Pakistan tensions, Washington is unmistakably signalling to Delhi to calm down and get its act together as a responsible regional power. The US is walking a fine line, given the complexities of the overall situation.

First and foremost, from Washington's perspective, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the best thing that ever happened to the US-Indian relationship since 1947. Here is an Indian prime minister who is not obsessed with 'strategic autonomy' and is game to taking India into an alliance with the US. Part of the package is also lucrative US exports to India, civil and military exports.

Geopolitically, the prospects also look good for incrementally atrophying India's 'time-tested' relations with Russia, which would help isolate Moscow and hurt its principal source of income out of arms exports. Above all, the Modi government genuinely believes in the efficacy of the US' containment strategy against China and counts on advantages accruing to India.

However, just when things looked jolly good, Kashmir Valley descended into violence and anarchy and Delhi began blaming Pakistan. The nadir was reached when under the mistaken notion that the rhetoric would have a receptive international audience, PM Modi personally began a strident campaign demanding that Pakistan should be sanctioned as a state sponsoring terrorism, and even more astoundingly, that Pakistan should be held accountable for its human rights record in Baluchistan province.

Comment: India is dealing as best it can with a very complex situation as it attempts to balance between the failing Empire and multi-polar world of Russia and China.

Read More...
Snakes in Suits

Washington's unreported role in turning N. Korea into a military garrison state

John Wight
RT
Sun, 18 Sep 2016 17:37 UTC
North korea missle launcher
© Jason Lee / Reuters
Amid the ocean of analyses of North Korea produced over the years, you will struggle to find one that identifies US foreign policy as a key factor in the country's regressive development.

This is the point consistently abstracted when it comes to arriving at an accurate rendering of a state consistently depicted as a veritable hell, in which its 25 million citizens are kept in a state of permanent fear and terror, a state and society in which human rights are non-existent, along with any vestige of freedom of expression or conscience.

While this is certainly part of the story when it comes to North Korea, it is by no means the whole story. For that we need to understand the concrete historical conditions that have largely, though not solely, been responsible for its current mode of existence as a garrison state.

Comment: Maybe US foreign policy against North Korea is by design to keep a 'hot spot' between the US and Russia/China: Tension grows between North and South Korea: US Empire is the real enemy of both

Read More...
Eye 2

MPs to question top MI5 lawyer over UK involvement in Guantanamo torture


RT
Mon, 19 Sep 2016 17:33 UTC
guantanamo
© Lucas Jackson / ReutersChain link fence and concertina wire surrounds a deserted guard tower within Joint Task Force Guantanamo's Camp Delta at the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
MI5's top lawyer is to answer questions in Parliament over whether the intelligence agency knew about the alleged use of torture at the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

MPs will ask the lawyer to give evidence about the alleged torture and rendition of terrorist suspects during the 'War on Terror.

The Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) is investigating claims MI5 held secret "torture meetings" in 2002 during which interrogation practices at Guantanamo were discussed.

Former attorney general and ISC chair Dominic Grieve said the inquiry would investigate "unanswered questions" in relation to Britain's role in rendition.

"Our longer-term priority is the substantial inquiry into the role of the UK government and security and intelligence agencies in relation to detainee treatment and rendition, where there are still unanswered questions," he said shortly after his appointment to committee chair last October.
Read More...
Evil Rays

West Bank violence intensifies as Israeli police kill two Palestinian attackers


RT
Mon, 19 Sep 2016 16:06 UTC
west bank stabbing
© Mussa Qawasma / ReutersIsraeli security forces gather at the scene of a stabbing attack in the West Bank city of Hebron September 19, 2016
Two Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops in Hebron after they attempted to stab border police officers. One attacker was killed at the scene, while the other died in hospital. In a separate incident, two Israeli officers were stabbed in Jerusalem.

The attack in Hebron took place near the Tomb of the Patriarchs, which is a holy site to both Muslims and Jews. The two assailants were from Hebron, and were aged 17 and 21, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. They approached border officials and took out knives reportedly with the intention of stabbing them.

However, Israeli troops opened fire, killing both the Palestinians. Both of the attackers suffered gunshot wounds with one dying at the scene. The second was taken to a Jerusalem hospital in a critical condition, but later succumbed to his injuries. No Israeli troops were injured during the incident.

The shootings came hours after two police officers were stabbed by an attacker in East Jerusalem A 38-year-old female officer is in intensive care after suffering stab wounds to the neck, while a 40-year-old male officer suffered moderate injuries.

Comment: It's hard not to blame Palestinians for resorting to violence after being surrounded and treated as less than humans by Israel for as long as they have:

Read More...
Bad Guys

Amnesty International: US bomb destroyed hospital in Yemen


PressTV
Mon, 19 Sep 2016 19:03 UTC
Destroyed hospital
© AFPThis file photo taken on August 16, 2016 shows a Yemeni man walking past a crater in the courtyard of a hospital operated by the international medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Abs district of the northern Yemeni province of Hajjah, a day after the hospital was hit by a Saudi air strike
Amnesty International says Saudi military aircraft pounded a hospital in Yemen's northwestern province of Hajjah with a US-built bomb last month, calling on the United States and Britain to stop selling munitions to Riyadh and its allies in the war against conflict-ridden Yemen.

According to the London-based rights watchdog, a "US-made precision-guided Paveway-series aerial bomb" was used in the deadly August 15 attack against the Abs hospital, which was supported by the international medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), or Doctors Without Borders.

The MSF says the assault left 19 people, including one of its staff members, dead and several others injured.

According to MSF, there were 23 patients in surgery, 25 in maternity ward, as well as 13 newborns and 12 patients in pediatrics wards at the time of the bombing.

"It is outrageous that states have continued to supply the Saudi Arabia-led coalition with weapons, including guided and general purpose aerial bombs and combat aircraft," Philip Luther, Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Amnesty International, said.

Comment: See also:

Read More...
Eye 2

Turkish whistleblower exposes how NATO ally arms and funds ISIS

Nafeez Ahmed
Medium
Fri, 16 Sep 2016 16:27 UTC
isis hell fireball bombs
© Photo supplied exclusively by Ahmet Yayla to INSURGE from ISIS sourcesISIS member preparing “hell fireball” bombs constructed from material supplied from Turkey with the complicity of security agencies.

Comment: While it's certainly likely that factions of the Turkish government funded and armed ISIS, the timing of this whistleblower coming out is certainly interesting. It wasn't until after the attempted coup that Yayla chose to "resign" and then come forward to a Western media source about Erdogan's involvement in helping ISIS. This begs the question(s), was Yayla a part of NATO's Gladio informants in Turkey and is he coming forward now as a kind of "limited hangout" strategy by the West to make Erdogan look bad now that he has started to move towards an alliance with Putin and Russia? His possible involvement as a Western 'agent' is further evident when he claims that the failed Turkish coup was staged by Erdogan's government.


A former senior counter-terrorism official in Turkey has blown the whistle on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's deliberate sponsorship of the Islamic State (ISIS) as a geopolitical tool to expand Turkey's regional influence and sideline his political opponents at home.

Ahmet Sait Yayla was Chief of the Counter-Terrorism and Operations Division of Turkish National Police between 2010 and 2012, before becoming Chief of the Public Order and Crime Prevention Division until 2014. Previously, he had worked in the Counter-Terrorism and Operations Division as a mid-level manager for his entire 20-year police tenure, before becoming Chief of Police in Ankara and Sanliurfa.

In interviews with INSURGE intelligence, Yayla exclusively revealed that he had personally witnessed evidence of high-level Turkish state sponsorship of ISIS during his police career, which eventually led him to resign. He decided to become a whistleblower after Erdogan's authoritarian crackdown following the failed military coup in July. This is the first time that the former counter-terrorism chief has spoken on the record to reveal what he knows about Turkish government aid to Islamist terror groups.

The former Turkish National Police counter-terrorism chief is speaking out at considerable risk to his own family. As part of Erdogan's crackdown after the failed military coup in July, Yayla's 19 year old son was prevented from leaving the country, and eventually arrested on terrorism charges.
Read More...
Info

Turkish PM vows enemies trying to turn Turkey into Syria will be defeated


Sputnik
Mon, 19 Sep 2016 16:44 UTC
turquia pkk
© AFP 2015/ Cagdas Erdogan
Turkey's Prime Minister Binali Yildirim has lashed out at forces that "cooperate with foreign powers" to realize a scenario in Turkey similar to those that was played out in Iraq and Syria, trying to split the country up.

The comments by the prime minister were on Saturday during his visit to the Turkish province of Ağrı, where Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) attacked a village on September 10, killing ten people, including Turkish troops and law enforcement, Hurriyet Daily reported.

Speaking with the families of those killed in the attack, Yildirim hinted that PKK backed by foreign nations looks to break up the country. "They want to turn Turkey into Syria or Iraq via cooperating with foreign powers. However, they forget one thing: This is not Syria or Iraq. This is Anatolia," he said, adding that the government is "aware" of the plans of enemies of the Turkish state. "They are feeding terror in order to divide Turkey. This is a dirty game."
Read More...
Pirates

Japan's role in the China Sea dispute undermines regional stability and instigates conflict

Zhong Sheng
Global Research
Mon, 19 Sep 2016 15:53 UTC
japan
During a recent visit to Washington DC, Japan's Defense Minister Tomomi Inada once again described China as a "rule-breaker" on the issues of the East China Sea and South China Sea. Inada proposed that Japan hold more joint patrols and military exercises with the US and countries in the region with the aim to enhance its involvement in the contested South China Sea.

These statements from a senior Japanese official not only run contrary to fact, but also have the potential to undermine regional stability by instigating conflict.

Frustrated at being only regarded as an "economic power," Japan set a goal for itself in the 1990s to become a political power as well. While Japan's ambitions ended up going up in smoke, after the US introduced its "Asia-Pacific Rebalance" strategy, Japan rekindled its hope of growing into a global political or even military power.

In other words, it was the US' Asia-Pacific strategy that resurrected Japan's military and political ambitions, at the same time granting the once vanquished country the green light to challenge the post-World War II order. Future historians are sure to see this as a disgrace for Washington.

The so-called "China threat" that Inada has been pushing does not stand up to the light of truth. The Diaoyu Islands have been an integral part of Chinese territory since ancient times. This is an indisputable fact that is backed up by a series of international legal documents.

Comment: See: Japan to inflame South China Sea dispute by joining U.S. maritime patrols

Read More...