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"I'm Luke Harding, and I'm a tool."
Reading Western media reaction to Putin's decision yesterday not to retaliate in kind to Obama's latest sanctions has been instructive, with the tone extending from the admiring, to the factual, and to the furious.
One comment however stood out as by far the most unpleasant, and it came (unsurprisingly to those who follow him) from Luke Harding in the Guardian
The statement wished Obama, Trump and the American people a happy new year. It further invited "all the children of American diplomats" to visit the Kremlin's festive Christmas tree. Instead of playing the Grinch, Putin had taken on the role of Ded Moroz, Russia's answer to Father Christmas. One Russian MP on Vesti TV said Obama was Bad Santa. It was also a subtle reminder, for those who were able to decode it, that the FSB - the KGB's successor - has precise information about the children of US embassy personnel. Russia's foreign ministry on Friday tartly denied reports that Moscow was to close the Anglo-American school, attended by diplomatic kids, and the offspring of bankers and oil workers. (italics added)The claim that the Russians planned to close the Anglo-American school was indeed furiously denied by the Russians after it circulated for a short time in the media.
The year 2016 saw the person elected U.S. president whom Jeff Bezos' propaganda rag, the Washington Post, hated most. To celebrate the end of this very bad year its writers and editors decided to put more egg on their faces.
It first published the piece promoted on the left and some three hours later the fundamentally "corrected" one on the right.
Comment: See more: Hard to believe: 'Russian hackers' penetrate US power grid with 'outdated Ukrainian malware'
What a bunch of hacks (no pun intended)!
© Singapore Buzz Blog 7
The outgoing president will confer with Democratic lawmakers about how to proceed with his signature legislation, the Affordable Care Act (ACA, also dubbed "Obamacare"), on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, the day after the 115th Congress is sworn in. The meeting is expected to last "at least one hour," according to guidance provided by the White House and released to multiple news outlets.
Obama will use the time to "share his perspective about the dangers posed by Congressional Republicans' stated strategy to repeal the [Affordable Care Act] before proposing any replacement, creating chaos in the health system in the short run — and holding hostage Americans' health care — while Republicans develop their plan," the guidance said.
Trump and Republican leaders in Congress have repeatedly pledged to repeal large parts of Obamacare early next year, citing rising health insurance premiums, among other things. It was a promise that may have helped Trump win the election, as voters expressed their dismay that Obamacare premiums were expected to jump 25 percent in 2017. The White House announced the increases about two weeks before Election Day.
Comment: Insurance companies could be back in charge, changes to policies, more products with subpar coverage. Public options always come secondary to Big Biz and Big Government. And, the population is getting more unhealthy every day.
© News From Antiwar.comThe 'Hate' is on.
The consul general of the embassy, Sergey Petrov, confirmed to the Associated Press that the chef is among four diplomats who have been kicked out of the San Francisco embassy. The move means that this New Year's Eve, "we'll have to cook ourselves," Petrov said.
The 31 other Russian diplomats that are being kicked out of the country are from the Washington DC embassy. Seven family members will also be leaving with the diplomats, three of whom are children. They "have to leave within hours, and it's just not human, frankly," Petrov added. "They are bitter because they have to leave before their term expired," he said.
As Sputnik reported yesterday, the US also shut down a vacation retreat center in Maryland "where families grilled burgers, hot dogs, and maybe even nuclear-Russian shish kebobs."
While Russian President Vladimir Putin is being praised by US President-elect Donald Trump for his refusal to retaliate against the outgoing administration, it is clear that, for the next few weeks, the White House does not want Russian diplomats or their families to enjoy their time in the nation.
Comment: This can be summed up in one small word: 'petty.'
See also:
- Moscow sends a plane to ferry its 35 expelled diplomats and their families out of the U.S.
- Putin outsmarts U.S. Empire once again, turns expulsion of Russian diplomats to Russia's advantage
- Putin mic drops Obama: Russia retaliates against US retaliations... by inviting families of US diplomats to New Year's party at Kremlin, wishes Obama and family all the best
© Markus Schreiber / ReutersGerman Chancellor Angela Merkel
"The most serious test is undoubtedly Islamic terrorism, which has been targeting Germans for many years. In 2016, it attacked us in the middle of our country," Merkel said, referring to Islamic State (IS, ISIS/ISIL)-linked attacks in Wurzburg and Ansbach in July and to the recent attack on a Christmas market by Tunisian asylum seeker Anis Amri in Berlin.
The attack on a wine bar in the Bavarian city of Ansbach, which left 15 people wounded, was perpetrated by a Syrian refugee, who, like Amri, pledged allegiance to ISIS. In Wurzburg, a knife-wielding asylum seeker from Pakistan went on a rampage on a train, wounding five on July 18, in an attack also claimed by Islamic State.
The fact that these atrocities were committed by the people who were supposed to be seeking Germany's protection is a huge blow not only to the nation's ideals but also for asylum seekers and refugees who genuinely want to live in peace, Merkel said.
"It is particularly bitter and repulsive when terrorist attacks are committed by people who are supposed to seek shelter in our country. Who, exactly for this reason, have experienced our country's willingness to help and now mock this [willingness] with their deeds," Merkel said.
© REUTERS/ Russian Ministry of Defence
The ministry's International Mine Action Center unit departed to Syria for its mine removal campaign on December 2.
"Overall since December 5, 2016, Russian deminers cleared land with the total area of 1,072 hectares [2,648 acres], more than 400 kilometers of roads [248 miles] and around 2,200 buildings," the ministry said in a social media post.
It added that more than 16,000 explosive objects have been neutralized in that period.
Putin mocks Obama's sanctions
The Russian president has refused to apply the usual reciprocity and to expel American diplomats in return. On the contrary, he invited their children to the Noël in the Kremlin.
Vladimir Putin, a fan of "asymmetrical" answers, on Friday rejected his Foreign Minister's proposal to apply the usual reciprocity for the expulsion of diplomats. Mingling the serious with the derisive, the Russian president described the expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats as "another unfriendly gesture of the outgoing American administration" and a "provocation to further destabilize Russian-American relations."
Further on, he adds, contemptuously refusing to "go down to the level of kitchens", he would prefer "to orient (his) policy on that of the future Administration of Donald Trump." Any eventual retaliatory measures are postponed. Vladimir Putin chooses to remain in the living room of the Kremlin, where, magnanimous, he invites "all the children of the American diplomats accredited in Russia around the Christmas tree."
© Andrew Kelly / ReutersThe United Nations Security Council
The draft resolution prepared by Russia was officially presented to the UNSC on Friday, a day after Moscow sent the texts of two agreements signed by the Syrian government and seven armed opposition groups to the UN body.
The documents that "establish a ceasefire as well as obliges the Syrian government and the opposition to start direct talks in Astana in late January," Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin told journalists on Friday, speaking about the documents he presented at the Security Council meeting together with a draft resolution supporting the ceasefire in Syria.
He also said that all groups that genuinely want to join talks between the Syrian government and the opposition in Astana scheduled for early 2017 are welcome in the Kazakh capital.
Security Council members welcomed the agreements reached through the mediation of Russia and Turkey, and stressed the importance of its "full and immediate implementation."
© Stringer / Reuters Israeli security forces tend to a Palestinian woman, who according to the Israeli police was shot and wounded after she attempted to stab Israeli officers, at Qalandiya checkpoint near the West Bank city of Ramallah December 30, 2016.
Isaac Herzog, the chairman of the Zionist Union, a center-left political alliance in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, on Friday proposed to decide the fate of the West Bank in a plebiscite following a controversial poll released earlier. The poll showed that almost 40 percent of Israelis would favor the annexation of the entire West Bank. While the majority still would not mind the establishment of the Palestinian state alongside the Jewish one, only 30 percent agreed to accept it within 1967 borders.
Comment: The way referendums have been going lately, if this Israeli referendum is called, it might have unintended consequences.
Comment: From Lobaczewski's Political Ponerology:
Harding needs help.