Puppet MastersS


Bad Guys

Pentagon looking to exempt Iraqi pilots trained in US from Trump's immigration ban


RT
Tue, 31 Jan 2017 16:45 UTC
iraqi pilots
© Mohammed Ameen / ReutersIraqi pilots salute during a graduation ceremony in Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad
The DoD is reportedly seeking to exempt Iraqi Air Force pilots trained at US facilities from President Trump's so-called 'Muslim ban'. It comes as some army veterans argue the ban endangers Iraqis and Afghans who once fought alongside the US troops.

The US military was working on an emergency scheme allowing dozens of Iraqi F-16 pilots to continue their training at Arizona National Guard facilities, a Pentagon official told the Air Force Times on Monday.

The official said that the department was working on an exemption allowing Iraqis to continue traveling to the US to learn to fly F-16s. The Washington Examiner also reported that a possible exemption was being discussed.

"We are working closely with our State Department and Homeland Security Department counterparts to determine the practical effect of the executive order," the official said. "The high importance we place on the Iraqi-US relationship has not changed. Working by, with and through the government of Iraq to defeat ISIS [Islamic State or IS] in Iraq is still among our top priorities as a department and as a government."
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Laptop

Judicial branch added back to White House website after its conspicuous removal sparks anger online


RT
Tue, 31 Jan 2017 18:30 UTC
white house website
© whitehouse.gov
Donald Trump's administration has discreetly added the judicial branch to a section of the White House website, after it was revealed that it had been removed. The disappearance of the branch unsurprisingly prompted outrage online.

The online uproar stemmed from a section of the WhiteHouse.gov website titled 'Our Government'. The category traditionally lists the three branches of the US government - the executive, legislative, and judicial branches.

However, that section was altered one day after Trump's inauguration on January 20, according to the Hill.

The section then included the executive and legislative branches, but failed to mention the judicial branch at all.

Although the change apparently occurred earlier this month, it made waves online on Sunday, after a federal judge in New York issued an emergency stay which temporarily halted the removal of people detained as a result of Trump's ban on immigrants from seven mainly Muslim countries entering the US.
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Jet5

Russian bombers destroy ISIS targets in Syria's Deir ez-Zor


RT
Tue, 31 Jan 2017 16:29 UTC
russian bombers
Russian long-range bombers have destroyed two Islamic State command centers, along with weapons and ammunition depots in Syria's Deir ez-Zor province - the latest in a series of strikes against the jihadists in the area, the Russian Defense Ministry has announced.

"On January 30, six Tu-22M3 long-range bombers of the Russian Aerospace Forces took off from an airfield located in the territory of the Russian Federation, flew over territories of Iraq and Iran, and carried out an airstrike on ISIS terrorists' targets in the Deir ez-Zor province of the Syrian Arab Republic," the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

Comment: Russia's kicking ISIS a** and taking names.

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Brick Wall

Benjamin Netanyahu defends 'wall's a great idea' tweet amid diplomatic row with Mexico


RT
Tue, 31 Jan 2017 16:06 UTC
wall israel
© MENAHEM KAHANA / AFP Egyptian soldiers walk in their army post as seen from the Israeli side of the border with Egypt near the Israeli village of Nitzanei Sinai on August 20, 2013.
Benjamin Netanyahu has defended his 'wall' remarks, accusing the media of spinning it as support for Donald Trump's plan to build a wall along the Mexican border. Unimpressed, Mexico's FM called it an act of "aggression," and has demanded an apology.

Benjamin Netanyahu inadvertently initiated a diplomatic row on Saturday after he tweeted what Mexico interpreted as open support of the US president's plans to erect a wall to separate the two neighboring North American countries.

The story began unfolding during Donald Trump's interview with Fox News on Thursday, when the new American leader hailed the Israeli wall with Egypt as an example of an effective security measure.

Comment: Is building a wall really the answer to immigration problem in the US?

"Do not build this wall!" Berlin mayor urges Trump not to build wall on Mexican border

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Chess

Game changer: Safe zones in Syria spell bad news for ISIS

Martin Jay
RT
Mon, 30 Jan 2017 17:05 UTC
Aleppo
© Omar Sanadiki / Reuters Forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad walk past along a street in the government held Sheikh Saeed district of Aleppo, during a media tour, Syria December 12, 2016.
We can be cautiously optimistic regarding developments in Syria, said Beirut-based journalist Martin Jay, adding that President Trump's push to create safe zones is a step in the right direction.

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow is ready to discuss the idea with Washington.

President Donald Trump said he would "absolutely do safe zones in Syria" for people fleeing the violence.

RT: How much of a game-changer is this development, now that we're hearing that America and Russia are pretty much on the same page with regarding Syria as it stands on the safe zones? It is good news, isn't it?

Martin Jay: I think we can be cautiously optimistic. But I think it is a game-changer. We're moving in the right direction. Previously we haven't had anything, which looks like common sense on the table before. I think now it is important that Trump seems to back up his word. He said he will do something about ISIS and this is a step in the right direction.

Comment: Lavrov says 'safe zones' in Syria possible, as long as Damascus agrees

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Bad Guys

Ukrainian paramilitary supported by army attacked rebels in East, then claim rebels broke ceasefire


RT
Tue, 31 Jan 2017 16:12 UTC
Azov Battalion holds artillery training
© Marko Djurica / Reuters
The latest escalation of violence in eastern Ukraine was caused by an attack from Ukrainian paramilitary units, the Kremlin said, citing its own data and rejecting accusations by Kiev, which said Russia is responsible for it.

Reports of intensified fighting between pro-Ukrainian forces and rebels along the disengagement line in eastern Ukraine came on Monday. According to Moscow's data, the hostilities were provoked by Ukrainian paramilitary units, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday.

"[The paramilitary] tried to attack the territory controlled by the [self-proclaimed] republics of Donbass," he told journalists. "Those units crossed the disengagement line with artillery fire support from the Ukrainian Army. The rebel militia was forced to fight back near the town of Avdeevka and take back the seized land."
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No Entry

If Scotland broke away from UK it would have to join back 'of queue' for EU membership


RT
Tue, 31 Jan 2017 15:46 UTC
Scotland Brexit
© Russell Cheyne / Reuters
If Scotland broke away from the United Kingdom and applied for EU membership after Brexit, the fledgling independent state would have to "join the queue" behind Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia Herzegovina and Turkey, it has been warned.

Addressing the European Parliament in Brussels on Monday, the Scottish parliament's External Affairs Secretary Fiona Hyslop appealed for "solidarity" with European leaders, the Scotsman reports.

"In the turbulent and unpredictable months ahead, I ask you, respectfully, members of the European Parliament, as the elected body representing all EU citizens, please do not turn your back on Scotland.

"Now is the time to demonstrate your solidarity with a nation which voted overwhelmingly to remain within the European Union."

Comment: More on Scotland and Brexit:

Brexit ruling from UK supreme court puts Scottish independence back on the table

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Sherlock

How does Russia deal with immigrants?

Yaroslav Lavrentievich Podvolotskiy
American Renaissance
Fri, 27 Jan 2017 14:01 UTC
Russian migrants
Americans have something to learn.

White people in the former Warsaw Pact countries still cherish their racial and cultural identities, and their politicians and citizens are trying to keep immigrants out. Even if we in America and Western Europe become extensions of the Third World, the countries behind the Iron Curtain will still be European.

I would like to discuss the most important of these countries: the Russian Federation. Here, people feel no white guilt. Why should they? While American blacks were demanding civil rights and reminding whites of slavery, Soviet citizens were suffering a kind of modern slavery. White privilege did not save the millions who disappeared in Stalin's labor camps, nor did it help those who starved during the famines that he and his party bosses created. If American blacks or British Muslims had a taste of what Soviet citizens went through in the 1930s and 1940s, they would be glad they were American citizens and British subjects.

Comment: See also:

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Calendar

Brexit trigger date: MPs start 2-day debate on how to leave EU


RT
Tue, 31 Jan 2017 15:34 UTC
Brexit Article 50 bill
© Toby Melville / ReutersA journalist poses with a copy of the Brexit Article 50 bill, introduced by the government to seek parliamentary approval to start the process of leaving the European Union, in front of the Houses of Parliament in London, Britain, January 26, 2017.
MPs are beginning two days of debate on the bill to trigger Article 50, which will give Prime Minister Theresa May the go-ahead to launch formal Brexit negotiations with the EU.

The discussions on the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill, or 'Brexit bill,' will continue until midnight on Tuesday, with a vote taking place on Wednesday evening.

Ministers were forced to table the legislation last week after the Supreme Court upheld an earlier ruling that the government must obtain the approval of Parliament before it can begin negotiating Britain's withdrawal from the EU.

The Liberal Democrats and the Scottish National Party (SNP) are expected to vote against the bill, but as the Labour leadership is backing it, the government is expected to win.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has ordered his MPs to vote with the government, but some are expected to defy him.
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Windsock

Meddling Merkel from her glass house says fight against terrorism no excuse for U.S. entry ban

Andrea Shalal and Andreas Rinke
Reuters
Sun, 29 Jan 2017 13:07 UTC
Angela Merkel
© Reuters/Axel SchmidtGerman Chancellor Angela Merkel at Bellevue Castle in Berlin, Germany January 27, 2017.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel told U.S. President Donald Trump that the global fight against terrorism was no excuse for banning refugees or people from Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States, her spokesman said on Sunday.

Steffen Seibert said Merkel had expressed her concerns to Trump during a telephone call on Saturday and reminded him that the Geneva Conventions require the international community to take in war refugees on humanitarian grounds.

"She is convinced that even the necessary, decisive battle against terrorism does not justify putting people of a specific background or faith under general suspicion," he said.

Seibert said the German government regrets the U.S. entry travel ban, would review the consequences for German citizens with dual nationalities, and would "represent their interests, if needed, vis a vis our U.S. partners".

The German and Dutch foreign ministers issued a joint statement on Sunday saying they were pressing U.S. authorities to determine what the order meant for their dual nationals.

Comment: These outraged leaders' foreign policy and support for wars helped cause the refugee crisis in the first place. And where was this humanitarian righteousness and political subversion when Obama signed his own Muslim ban and spent the past 8 years destroying the Middle East?

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