Puppet MastersS


Bomb

Russian bomb disposal unit de-mine schoolhouse in Aleppo


Sputnik
Sun, 18 Dec 2016 11:37 UTC
Russian army sappers work at the historic part of Palmyra, Syria, in this photo released by Russian Ministry of Defence on April 9, 2016
© REUTERS/ Russian Ministry of Defense Russian army sappers work at the historic part of Palmyra, Syria, in this photo released by Russian Ministry of Defence on April 9, 2016
Russian sappers have demined hectares of Aleppo's territory since the Russian-backed Syrian government forces retook the rebel-held strategic city earlier this week.


"Today, just as one of our bomb-disposal units was clearing mines at a local schoolhouse, they found a room there that the terrorists had used to assemble makeshift bombs," a Russian officer told Ruptly.

"They found canisters there, some of them loaded with explosives, and also saltpeter and kerosene which, mixed together, can also be used as an explosive. Our bomb-disposal teams are searching local buildings, above all those vital for the wellbeing of the local residents," the officer added.

Comment: See also: Russian MoD: Bomb disposal unit departs for Aleppo on de-mining mission

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X

Chinese Defense Ministry: China seized US underwater drone 'to prevent danger to navigation'


RT
Sun, 18 Dec 2016 11:18 UTC
Chinese coastal guard ship
© Nguyen Minh / Reuters
An American unmanned underwater device seized by Chinese military in the waters of the South China Sea earlier this week was potentially "dangerous" to safe navigation in the area, China claimed, adding that the drone would be returned to the US after its investigation.

The Chinese Defense Ministry praised its navy's efforts in handling the incident "professionally," in what has been dubbed as one of the most serious episodes between the two nations' military in years.

"In order to prevent this device from posing a danger to the safe navigation of passing ships and personnel, the Chinese lifeboat adopted a professional and responsible attitude in investigating and verifying the device," Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun said in a statement on Saturday, as quoted by AP.

The Chinese have also accused Washington of "military surveying" with its ships in their "presence," and demanded the US "stop such activities."

"China will continue to maintain vigilance against the relevant US activities and will take necessary measures to deal with them," the statement warned.

The device in question, which turned out to be an underwater drone apparently deployed by an American oceanographic vessel, would be transferred to the US "through appropriate means," the Defense Ministry spokesman said.

Comment: See also: Beijing seizes US underwater 'oceanographic' drone in South China Sea

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Bomb

Syrian authorities provide evidence of mustard gas attack by rebels on civilians to OPCW


RT
Sun, 18 Dec 2016 10:32 UTC
Volunteers take part in a simulation of how to respond to a chemical attack, in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo
© AFP 2016/ JM LOPEZVolunteers take part in a simulation of how to respond to a chemical attack, in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo
Syrian authorities have handed over a batch of documents with the evidence of a rebel use of banned chemical agent against civilians near Aleppo to the international chemical watchdog. Samples from the shell containing mustard gas are to be delivered to The Hague.

The documents were handed over in Damascus to the mission of the Technical Secretariat of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

The mission, comprising eight experts from the US, the UK, Australia, Slovakia and Slovenia has been working in Damascus at the request of the Syrian government since December 12.

"We have provided all the documents to the mission, they were vetted and accepted. The mission will come to Syria one more time to collect samples, which will be subsequently analyzed," said Samer Abbas, spokesman for the Syrian National Authority monitoring the implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.


The samples are expected to be delivered to The Hague, the site of the OPCW headquarters, by a charter flight in January next year. The samples will be stored in Syria until all financial difficulties linked to their transportation to Europe will be solved.

Comment: See also: Russian defense experts confirm militants used mustard gas against civilians in Syria and OPCW chief: ISIS likely produced mustard gas used in Syria, Iraq attacks

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Bad Guys

Al Arabiya TV reports militants reaching deal with Russia, Iran on Aleppo evacuation


Sputnik
Sun, 18 Dec 2016 09:29 UTC
Member of Islamist group Ansar al-Islam and the Ahrar ash-Sham (Islamic Movement of the Free Men of the Levant) group
© AFP 2016/ RAMI AL-SAYED Member of Islamist group Ansar al-Islam and the Ahrar ash-Sham (Islamic Movement of the Free Men of the Levant) group
The sides have agreed that the remaining civilians and militants would leave Aleppo in return for selective evacuation from the Syrian towns of Foua, Madaya and Zabadani, Al Arabiya TV channel said citing an audio record from Ahrar ash-Sham.

The information has not yet been confirmed by the Russian Defense Ministry's center for Syrian reconciliation or Syrian authorities.

On Friday, the Russian Defense Ministry's center for Syrian reconciliation said that the Syrian army's operation to liberate the eastern neighborhoods of Aleppo was over, and that the Syrian government troops were eliminating separate hotbeds of militants' resistance. On the same day, the reconciliation center said that the operation to evacuate militants and their families from Aleppo ended.

Comment: The Russian Defense Ministry said that the operation to evacuate militants from Aleppo has really separated so-called Syrian "moderate" rebels from terrorists after the US failed to do so.
"The operation carried out by the Russian center for [Syrian] reconciliation on the evacuation of militants and their families from Aleppo is unique not only because this operation saved the lives of some 10,000 Syrians. This operation opened opportunities to impose regimes of halted combat activities not only in the Aleppo province, but also in other Syria's regions," Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said.

He also said that "first of all thanks to Russian officers of the center for reconciliation, the real separation of fighters of the so-called moderate opposition from radicals took place. Our American colleagues have thought that it's impossible to be implemented in practice for a whole year."

The operation shows that it is necessary to have a desire to agree with all parties of the conflict on the ground except for terrorists to achieve Syrian reconciliation, Konashenkov said.

"All attempts to replace this hard negotiating process with armed opposition on the ground by conferences in Western capitals with representatives of the High Negotiations Committee (HNC) or by sending some 'observers' to Aleppo are useless and a dead-end. The sooner [officials in] Paris, London and Washington, who are not even able to send humanitarian aid to Syria, realize it, the sooner there will be peace [in the country]."


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Laptop

Congressional cybersecurity leader demolishes Obama's hacking case against Russia

William Dunkerley
Russia Insider
Fri, 16 Dec 2016 22:30 UTC
Barack Obama
© Kevin Lamarque / Reuters Obama offers no evidence for Russian hacking claims
Jim Himes, a Congressional leader in the oversight of the National Security Agency and US cybersecurity, has just torpedoed Obama's case against Russia.

Obama has revealed his intentions to attack Russia in retaliation for alleged hacking of Democratic Party and Clinton campaign emails. He's offered no substantiation for his accusations. The evidence he and others have cited does not check out. What's more the allegations have never been addressed by the UN or any other competent international security agency.

But the lack of substantiation is actually beside the point. The primary issue is that countries covertly gathering information from other countries is nothing new, and is certainly not unique to Russia.

The US, for example, was caught hacking telephone conversations of the German Chancellor and the president of Brazil.

Comment: See also:

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Dollar

Petrodollar party over? Saudi Arabia suspends investments in US due to Trump - WSJ


South Front
Sat, 17 Dec 2016 00:00 UTC
Saudi Arabia has suspended its investments in the US so long as Riyadh finds out out how to work with the new US administration.
Saudi FM Adel al-Jubeir with John Kerry
© Reuters / Kevin LamarqueUS Secretary of State John Kerry speaks during his meeting with Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir
Saudi Arabia is going to rethink its "financial strategy" toward the US due to several factors, one of which is the election of billionaire Donald Trump as the country's president, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing informed sources.

Riyadh will suspend its investment in the economy also due to changes in the US law, in particular, due to adoption of a bill by the Senate and the US Congress, which authorizes to prosecute states, which support terrorist activities on the territory of the US. According to the US government, Saudi Arabia is among such countries.

Comment: See also:

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Caesar

Vladimir Putin was not head of the KGB, and did not order the hacking of the DNC

Michel Chossudovsky
Global Research
Sat, 17 Dec 2016 20:46 UTC
putin with hat
Vladimir Putin, tagged by president Barack Obama as a "former head of the KGB" at his National Press Conference (December 16) is said to have ordered the hacking of the Democratic National Committee (DNC).
"Over a third of Republican voters approve of Vladimir Putin, the former head of the KGB. Ronald Reagan would roll over in his grave."
This statement regarding Putin's affiliation to the KGB borders on ridicule. Obama is either ignorant or "misinformed" by his White House intelligence advisers. Putin was never a high ranking official in the Soviet era KGB.

Putin joined the KGB upon completing his undergraduate studies at the State University of Leningrad (today St Petersburg) in 1975 at age 23. He was first stationed in Leningrad (St Petersburg) and then transferred to East Germany where he occupied a junior undercover position as a translator in Dresden. Upon the collapse of the Soviet Union he joined municipal politics in St Petersburg. In 1998, he was appointed by president Yeltsin to the position of Director of the Federal Security Service (FSB), a position which he held for one year. The FSB is the agency responsible for domestic security, border guard services, organized crime, narco-traffic, etc. within the Russian Federation (nothing to do with foreign espionage).

screen shot business insider 2016
screen shot: Business Insider, December 16, 2016
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Info

Trump Middle East advisors' dream of war with Iran just inched closer to reality

Martin Jay
RT
Fri, 16 Dec 2016 21:54 UTC
US jet taking off of air craft carrier
© US Navy / Reuters
Has the Iran deal already been breached by Tehran? Even if it has, scrapping this deal brokered by President Obama, is not only foolish but against all that Trump stands for despite his Middle East hawks craving to bomb Iran.

President-elect Trump's first foreign policy test could be his most polemic and one which Russia will watch carefully.

The American people are confused and bewildered by what Donald Trump is going to do in the Middle East, and should seek solace in that Trump is patently confused himself. Recently we saw a series of extraordinary appointments, which all seem to come from the School of Oriental Studies in that they all have a shocking contempt for Iran and want the so-called Iran deal scrapped.
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Bullseye

Obama prioritized defeating Assad above defeating jihadists, claim officials

Eric Zuesse
Strategic Culture Foundation
Thu, 08 Dec 2016 00:01 UTC
soldiers
© Strategic Culture Foundation
Summary

The evidence is clear and convincing: U.S. President Barack Obama, against advice and warnings from his top military officers, pursued a policy to protect the fundamentalist-Sunni organization, Al Qaeda in Syria (called «Al Nusra» there), and to arm them, so as to overthrow Bashar al-Assad and replace Assad's secular government with a Sharia-law, fundamentalist-Sunni, government, which would be allied with the fundamentalist-Sunni Saud family — the deadly enemies of Iran, Assad's Syria, and Russia. (Both Iran and Assad's Syria are allied with Russia.) Obama and the Sauds wanted this replacement of Assad by jihadists for different reasons: Obama's goal was to terminate and replace yet another ruler who is allied with Russia; but the Sauds' goal was to terminate and replace Shia-Islam by the Sauds' own fundamentalist Sunni form of Islam.
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Heart

Why Bashar al-Assad remains popular among the Syrian people

Adam Gerrie
The Duran
Sat, 17 Dec 2016 21:42 UTC
Syrian - Assad
Until the current crisis, Syria was a largely stable and peaceful nation since 1970 - the year Assad senior came to power. Syria's turbulent history prior to 1970, however, gives one an insight into why contemporary Syrians want unity and associate peace with the Assad name.
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