Puppet MastersS


Quenelle - Golden

Zakharova responds to Ukrainian battalions' blockade of Donbass

maria zakharova,sprecherin außenamt russland
© Sputnik/Mikhail Voskresensky

Originally at DNI, translated by J. Flores


Ukraine has not the slightest desire to solve the conflict in the Donbass region by peaceful means, said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. She commented on the announcement of a blockade of Donbass by Ukrainian volunteer battalions .

"The emergence of such intentions is no surprise. They give voice to those who consider themselves successors of Nazi criminals such as Bandera and Shukhevych. All this speaks volumes about the absence in Ukraine's desire to resolve the conflict in the Donbass region by peaceful means. Announced blockade, if implemented, actually it will be a continuation of those actions, which themselves Ukrainian authorities have taken since 2015 with regard to the southeast of the country ", she said in comments appearing on the official website of the Foreign Ministry.

Comment: Further reading:


Info

Russia-Turkey-Iran brokered Syria agreement eliminates US ploys

Damascus, Syria
© AP Photo/ Hassan Ammar
Turkey and Russia have agreed on the outlines of a nationwide ceasefire plan in Syria and will submit it to Damascus to consider. Commenting upon the initiative, Turkish political scientist Salih Yılmaz explained to Sputnik why the initiative seems to be quite workable and why even the US won't be able to hamper its implementation.

The framework agreement between Russia and Turkey on Syria proposes the end of hostilities in the country starting at midnight local time on December 29.

The general ceasefire proposal is planned to be presented to the Syrian government for consideration, Turkey's Anadolu news service reported on Wednesday. The truce agreement is subject to approval by the Syrian government and does not extend to terrorist organizations operating in the country.

Bad Guys

Merkel's legislation to fine social media sites $522,000 a day for hosting "fake news"

merkel clinton
Germany is considering imposing a legal regime that would allow fining social networks such as Facebook up to 500,000 euros ($522,000).

Germany is coming completely undone.

In a move that will most certainly lead the way to other EU vassal states adopting similar measures, Angela Merkel is considering imposing a 500,000 euros ($522,000) fine on Facebook, and other social media platforms, for each day they leave a "fake news" story up without deleting it.

The German government will consider the bill in the new year. The initiative has bipartisan support, allowing both official and private complainants to flag content that is considered "fake news".

Comment: Germans are furious at Merkel for her policies and their tragic consequences. So, in desperation, she's jumping on the 'fake news' and 'Russians hacked my elections' bandwagon. She should wake up and see how well that worked for the precious snowflakes in the US.

Check out:


Nuke

UK regulator says accidental torpedo launch and radioactive leaks of 'no nuclear safety significance'

Hinkley Point C nuclear power station
© Stefan Wermuth / ReutersHinkley Point C nuclear power station site is seen near Bridgwater in Britain.
Britain's nuclear regulator is under government investigation for reportedly dismissing several serious accidents as posing no safety risk.

The government launched the investigation after a report by the Times revealed the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) has ignored serious mistakes at power plants and military bases, including the accidental discharge of a torpedo at a nuclear submarine base.

Experts accuse the regulator of being cozy with the nuclear industry and too reluctant "to frighten the horses."

The Times reports officials at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), which is responsible for the ONR, are investigating the regulator following the newspaper's disturbing revelations.

USA

Russian teams sweep Aleppo for mines, discover shells made in US, Germany, Bulgaria

Missile in Aleppo
© Mikhail Alaeddin/SputnikMissiles in a liberated neighborhood of eastern Aleppo, Syria.
Russian bomb disposal teams are continuing to sweep schools and mosques of Aleppo for booby-traps, mines and munitions after they were wrested from rebel control. Recovered explosives come from various parts of the world, including the US and Germany.

Since starting their mine-swiping mission in the Syrian city three weeks ago, the sappers have cleared 966 hectares, the Russian Syrian Reconciliation Center reported on Wednesday. They reported 2,149 building in and near Aleppo as safe, including 44 schools, 38 mosques, 10 medical facilities and other crucial civilian infrastructure. They also swept 350km of roads in the area for mines, the report said.

The teams discovered and defused some 14,700 dangerous items, including 6,700 IEDs. The munitions discovered in stockpiles left behind by various armed groups ranged from small arms rounds and hand grenades all the way up to rockets meant for multiple-rocket launchers.

Footage of the ongoing demining operation released by the Russian Defense Ministry showed crates full of various munitions; some of them marked "Produced in Yugoslavia by Ordnance Corps United States Army. The munitions we found were German, American, Bulgarian... The amount they had was somewhat disconcerting," Maj. Ivan Gromov, a bomb disposal squad leader said.


Comment: Why are we not surprised?



USA

Damascus water supply poisoned: Locals suspect Western-backed 'rebels'

rebels syria
US-backed 'rebels' appear to have poisoned the entire water supply of the civilian population of Syria's capital city
The Syrian capital has been without water for five days. Western media has blamed the government for disrupting the supply, but there is evidence that rebels are behind the water crisis, with renewed video threats. RT's Lizzie Phelan reports.

Damascus continues to be considered the safest place in Syria. But it has an Achilles heel, and that's the water supply - currently under rebel control. Last week, the government accused the rebels of contaminating the reservoir at Ein al Fija spring's water pumping station, which serves about 65 percent of Damascus, with diesel and other poisons.

The government managed to shut off the supply before it could reach the capital, but a leaked UN memo shows the extent of the fear that started to grip the people.


HAL9000

The walls have Orwellian ears: Warrant granted for Amazon Echo recordings

Amazon Echo
© Peter Hobson/Reuters
A murder in Arkansas may change the way people behave around smart devices. A warrant has been issued for an Amazon Echo, revealing that Amazon may retain recordings on a server for law enforcement investigations.

An Amazon Echo was cited in a warrant related to a November murder in Bentonville, Arkansas. While other smart devices were identified, police have pinned some specific hopes on the Echo for a simple reason: it never stops listening.

The Echo is only activated after a user says its awake, or says activation word. But once triggered, it records snippets of things said that are then sent to an Amazon cloud. A speech-recognition network moves things along until a response is sent back to the device, where it obeys a user's commands.

Echo owners may be familiar with the companion app, which stores all requests to be listened to and cherished. But that's not the only thing it does with those recordings. Amazon holds on to that data allegedly with the purpose of improving its voice assistant services, according to CNET.

The Echo in question belonged to James Andrew Bates, who is facing a first-degree murder charge for allegedly strangling and drowning Victor Collins in Bates' hot tub.


Comment: Amazon has refused to hand over the data.


Info

Iraqi PM Abadi says 3 more months needed to 'eliminate' ISIS in Iraq as Mosul op stalls

Iraqi soldiers
© Ahmed Jadallah / Reuters
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi said that it will take Iraqi army backed by US-led coalition another three months to flush out Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) fighters from the country as the large-scale offensive in Mosul goes into its third month.

"Conditions indicate that Iraq needs three months to eliminate Daesh [ISIS]," Iraqi TV quoted Abadi as saying on Tuesday following a government meeting in Baghdad.

The previous estimates by Abadi suggested that the northern Iraqi city, which has been held by IS since June 2014, would be liberated by the end of 2016. However, after having rapidly gained ground at approaches to Mosul in October, the Iraqi forces have since slowed down as they entered the city.

Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, commander of the coalition forces battling Islamic State in Iraq, told the Daily Beast on Monday that the coalition may need as much as two years to rout IS from its two self-proclaimed capitals of Mosul, in northern Iraq, and Raqqa in Syria.

Referring to the Mosul campaign, Townsend said that during a past week the Iraqi forces have halted their advance further into the city to take a much-needed respite and replenish resources. He claimed that Iraqi senior military officials are reluctant to admit that the offensive is not going as fast as they hoped.

Comment: See also: Why has the operation to free ISIS-held Mosul stalled


Light Sabers

Turkish President Erdogan accuses US-led coalition of supporting ISIS & other terrorist groups in Syria

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan
© Murad Sezer / ReutersTurkish President Tayyip Erdogan
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said "it's very clear" that the US-led coalition is supporting terrorist groups in Syria, Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIS/ISIL) among them.

"They give support to terrorist groups including Daesh (Arabic for IS)," Erdogan said.

Saying that the US have accused Turkey of supporting IS, speaking at a press conference on Tuesday the Turkish leader blamed the US-led coalition for assisting terrorists themselves.

Comment: More on Erdogan's statememt:
Which, incidentally, should also not come as a surprise in light of the May 2015 declassified Pentagon report, which claimed that ISIS was created as a Pentagon tool to overthrow Syria's president Assad.

Nevertheless, the "pot calling the kettle black" comes at a sensitive time for both the US and Turkey, which are both pivoting aggressively, one internally from Obama to Trump, while the other is shifting its foreign geopolitical allegiance from the US to Russia, which may also explain today's outburst by Erdogan.

Saying that the US have accused Turkey of supporting IS, speaking at a press conference on Tuesday the Turkish leader blamed the US-led coalition for assisting terrorists themselves. Apart from IS, he also mentioned Kurdish People's Protection Units in northern Syria (YPG) and Democratic Union Party (PYD) as groups supported by the coalition.

Earlier on Tuesday, Moscow accused Washington of "sponsoring terrorism" in Syria. Commenting on the latest National Defense Authorization Act signed into law by President Barack Obama, the Russian Foreign Ministry pointed out that the new bill "openly stipulates the possibility" of delivering more weapons to Syria, and added that those arms "will soon find their way to the jihadists," which Russia would view as a "hostile act."

Erdogan's comments echoed those from the Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan, who told RT that Washington appears unready to play a serious role in fighting Islamic State, as it has fostered terrorists itself and now wants them to remain in the Middle East.

"The Western coalition is of a formal nature, they have no real intention to fight neither in Syria nor in Iraq. We don't see any readiness on their part to play a truly useful and meaningful role in fighting IS, because it's them who have raised terrorists and they are interested in keeping them there," Dehghan said.

According to the Iranian defense minister, Tehran has never coordinated its operations with the Americans and "will never collaborate with them."

He then slammed the US' motives behind the "war on ISIS' saying that "maybe the coalition forces would like to see terrorists weakened, but certainly not destroyed, because those terrorists are their tool for destabilizing this region and some other parts of the world."

One wonders how long before Putin is blamed for this latest political scandal, because if indeed Erdogan does provide proof of US support for the Islamic State, then the Pentagon will need a back story very fast, and what better scapegoat than the Russian president.
Update (Dec. 28): The United States has denied what it calls "ludicrous" claims by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that Western coalition forces are backing "terrorist" groups in Syria, including the Islamic State (IS).
Erdogan said on December 27 that he has evidence that, rather than supporting Turkey, the West is backing IS, which has been the target of U.S. air strikes in Syria and Iraq since 2014.

Erdogan made a similar claim on a visit to Pakistan last month, alleging that "the West stands by Daesh right now" and that its weapons were Western-made.

U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner called those accusations "ludicrous" and said there was no basis in fact for them.



Blackbox

Media blackout on death of NATO auditor - was he assassinated to cover-up NATO's black budget?

Yves Chandelon
© DR
Let's get straight to the point on Christmas eve.

FACT: THEY ARE LYING AND COVERING UP THE TRUTH!

Belgian national, Vice President of the Institute of Internal Auditors Luxembourg and NATO Chief Auditor Yves Chandelon was assassinated last week and found dead on Friday December 16, 2016 after being intensely stalked and threatened for weeks.

The death threats that were aimed at Chandelon were in direct response to Chandelon's willingness to report about the massive black hole in NATO's very secretive budget, initially amounting to well over €250 billion (in today's currency) all concerning either missing or unaccounted funds, spread over a period of at least 4 decades.

Chandelon was known to be a dedicated NATO employee who could not be bribed or extorted. Several such attempts had already failed in the past.

Comment: See also: NATO auditor general investigating terror financing shot dead in Belgium