Puppet MastersS


Network

Erdogan, Putin and now Trump: A new balance of power to be defined

Turkish flags
© AP Photo/ Thanassis Stavrakis
Thursday marked the one year anniversary of Turkey's downing of a Russian Aerospace Forces Su-24 jet in the Syrian sky while it was on an anti-terror mission, which gravely affected relations between the two countries. One year on, Turkish politicians tell Sputnik what helped the two to ease tensions and reset relations after the incident.

A year ago, on November 24, 2015, a Turkish General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter launched an air-to-air missile at a Russian Sukhoi Su-24 combat aircraft which was on an anti-terror mission in Syrian airspace.

According to Col. Gen. Viktor Bondarev, the commander of the Russian Aerospace Forces, Turkey's F-16 fighters then ambushed the Su-24 in the sky as they were otherwise unable to reach the area on time after taking off from the nearby airfield. He added that the Russian Su-24 was tracked by Turkish Air Force radar for 34 minutes.

Commander of the Russian jet Lt. Col. Oleg Peshkov and navigator Capt. Konstantin Murakhtin managed to eject before the plane hit the ground in an area where fighting raged between the Syrian army and terrorists.

Comment: Assuming Trump fully understands and wants to correct the dynamics involved (which he may be close to given a number of his public statements regarding Russia) the key question then would seem to be how far the US deep state/military-industrial-complex is willing to go to sabotage any efforts he makes towards rapprochement. If past acts and events are any indication, the new president of the United States will have a very difficult time of it.

See: Trump vs. the National Security State: The Chances of a Revolution in US Foreign Policy


Dollars

Jihadists 'used UK welfare payments to fund Paris & Brussels terrorist attacks'

Mohamed Abrini
© Federal police / AFPMohamed Abrini
Jihadists accused of carrying out terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels used British welfare payments to fund the assaults, a court has heard.

Two Birmingham men handed £3,000 (US$3,730) to Mohamed Abrini - who is thought to be the man wearing a hat in CCTV footage taken at Brussels airport before and after the attack there in March - before he flew to Paris and disappeared.

Zakaria Boufassil, 26, from Birmingham, stands accused of making the payment, which was withdrawn from the bank account of Belgian national Anouar Haddouchi, who had been claiming benefits while living in the West Midlands.

Comment: See also:


Arrow Up

Egypt set to expand Russian industrial zone in Suez, 77,000 new jobs possible

New Suez Canal
© Mohamed Abd El Ghany / ReutersA cargo ship passes through the New Suez Canal in Ismailia, Egypt
The area of the Russian industrial park on the Suez Canal is to be expanded from 80 to 2,000 hectares (20 sq. km.), said Russia's Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov.

"Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has decided to allocate 80 hectares to us in the eastern part of Port Said on the Suez Canal. In the future Cairo is ready to expand this zone to 2,000 hectares," Manturov said on Friday.

Manturov says work on the intergovernmental agreement may be finished in the first quarter of 2017. Construction of the industrial park will start in 2018.

Comment: Is it really so complicated? Most of the world's governments just want to make smart mutually-benefitting business with one another and do not see the need to finance large proxy hordes of raping and pillaging head-choppers in order to secure profits.


Chess

'Kvetching': Picks for military key positions in Trump's administration

Donald Trump
© Photo by DonkeyHotey
President-elect Donald Trump's authoritarian style and personality, which attracted an overwhelmingly authoritarian following, is manifesting itself in the selection of his national security team. The appointment of Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn as the national security adviser is particularly worrisome because of the general's lack of experience in strategic policy and his controversial stewardship as the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. More recently, we have learned that general officers are being given consideration as secretaries of state, defense, and homeland security. Trump is putting at risk the Constitution's support for civilian control of the military as well as decision-making in the use of force as well as national security policy in general.

What is at stake in this case is the deepening cultural divide between the military and civilian worlds, particularly the increased militarization of national security policy that has taken place over the past two decades. The administrations of Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama have catered to the military, and have appointed too many general and flag officers to positions that should be in the hands of civilians. President Obama was particularly guilty in this regard, rewarding general officers with ambassadorial positions and naming a retired marine general to the post of national security adviser. The general, James Jones, was a poor fit in terms of both management and substantive support, and was soon forced out of the White House.

With the exception of the first appointment to the post of director of national intelligence, John Negroponte, all of Bush's and Obama's intelligence stars have been general and flag officers, and during this period we have witnessed a significant decline in the production and usefulness of strategic intelligence. Obama also demonstrated too much deference to the military when he retained Bush's secretary of defense, Robert Gates, as his own in order not to create concerns about reform of the military within the Pentagon.

Bad Guys

Charity states that 1 in 3 children vanished after the demolition of Calais migrant camp

calais jungle
© Pascal Rossignol / Reuters
After the demolition of the Calais 'Jungle' migrant camp, about a third of the children previously residing in the squalor who were being tracked by a UK charity have now reportedly gone missing.

The Refugee Youth Service (RYS) said,"a third of the 179 children tracked in October have gone missing after the eviction of the 'jungle'."

"We are disheartened that once again children, the most vulnerable of refugees, have gone missing following the chaotic eviction in Calais. It is particularly worrying that alarm bells are not being raised," said Refugee Youth Service co-founder Josie Naughton.

After the camp which, according to some estimates, housed over 10,000 migrants was demolished following fierce clashes between migrants and police, many unaccompanied children had no place to go. Some minors were reportedly even used to pick fruit at a local farm, just to survive, the Safe Passage UK program previously said.

Comment: We don't think it's a stretch to think that some of these children could've been victims of human trafficking, or used as sources for organ harvesting. Many of those in positions of power have 'appetites' that would make an ordinary person sick to the stomach. And there are always traffickers willing to procure what they want.


Star of David

Trump should put a halt to Israel's new sub program; support for Israel not a blank check

israel sub port
© The National Interest/Wikimedia CommonsDolphin II–class submarine INS Tanin at the HDW shipyard in Kiel.
Thirty years ago, I led a joint Department of Defense/Israeli Navy (IN) team that evaluated Israel's naval modernization program. Our agreed conclusion was that its two components, surface corvettes and submarines, both deserved American support. We recommended to both Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger and Minister of Defense Yitzhak Rabin that the corvettes be built in the United States, while Israel be permitted to use offshore procurement funds to acquire German-built submarines. Both ship types were to be built to Israeli specifications and equipped with Israeli systems. Secretary Weinberger agreed with our conclusions, as did Minister Rabin.

Within seven years Israel had launched its first Saar 5 corvette, and, bolstered by German financing, had begun the program that resulted in Israel's acquisition of three submarines, named the Dolphin class. In 2006, Israel acquired three more upgraded versions of the Dolphin sub from Germany. The first of the three was commissioned in 2014, another earlier this year, and a third will be commissioned in 2018. The Israeli press has reported that these submarines carry nuclear-tipped missiles; as such, they would constitute a powerful deterrent to Iran or any other nation threatening the security, indeed the existence, of the Jewish State.

Israel's procurement of these submarines has partially been funded by Germany. The remaining costs borne by Israel have in effect been subsidized by the U.S. taxpayer by virtue of the Offshore Procurement (OSP) program. This program, virtually unique to Israel, allows it to apply American foreign military assistance funding to projects of its own. Since money is fungible, the OSP funds offer Israel considerable flexibility in budget management, and enable its programmers and budgeteers to reallocate funds in order to free up resources for foreign purchases.

Comment: As long as Israel has the backing of US and other duped nations, it will continue its reign of terror in Palestine and bully threats to other regional nations. It is well past time for the US to re-evaluate its military and financial commitments to Israel. Congress, literally bought by Israeli interests, is responsible for the blatant hostaging of the American taxpayers, tied forever to Israeli subsidy under the bogus fear of 'anti-Semitism' and the Jewish global agenda. There is a way out: Refuse.

See also:


Target

Russian Senator Klintsevich: Nuclear response to target NATO expansion

Encroach NATO
© Wikimedia Commons
In response to NATO's efforts to enlist new member-countries, a member of the defense and security committee for Russia's Upper House has said that Russia will target any sites it considers to be a threat with nuclear weapons.

"In reply to NATO's aggressive actions, to the alliance's attempts to draw more and more nations into their orbit, there will be a harsh and unambiguous response from Russia's side. We will aim our weapons, including the nuclear ones, at any of the alliance's site that would threaten us, wherever these sites are placed," RIA Novosti quoted Senator Franz Klintsevich as saying. The senator also explained that by nuclear weapons he meant both stationary land-based systems, and mobile weapons, including sea- and air-based systems.

Vladimir Putin's press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters on Friday that Klintsevich's position was understandable, but also warned against jumping to hasty conclusions.

"Russian lawmakers have the right for own opinion, they are vividly reacting to international events, to NATO's expansion towards Russian borders, and to the expansion of NATO's military infrastructure. This makes their position understandable," Peskov said. At the same time, he noted that, according to the Russian Constitution, lawmakers cannot determine the country's foreign policy, as that is solely the president's prerogative.

In late October of this year, Senator Klintsevich told Norwegian television TV2 that Russia was concerned about US plans to deploy marines at a Norwegian base which he sees as part of its Prompt Global Strike doctrine. The implementation of this plan would force Russia to target sites in Norway with strategic weapons, which it has never had to do before.

Comment: Zero-sum game. Rein in the Klintsevichs and McCains.


Attention

Ukronazis itching for Russian response to their provocations - kidnapped Crimean soldiers, missile-firing 'exercise' over Crimea

buk missile
© ReutersA "Buk" anti-aircraft battery launches a ground-to-air missile during the Ukrainian army's "Duel-99" military manoeuvres at the Chauda firing ground in the Crimean peninsula October 12, 1999
First, it appeared to be a fluke: this summer the Ukronazi regime sent a small terrorist unit into Crimea tasked with blowing up several targets in the Crimea (see here for details). They were arrested by the Russian security services. In November, another two saboteurs were caught by the FSB (see here). And now something really remarkable happened. The Ukronazi security service kidnapped two Russian citizens in broad daylight and accused them of being "deserters". Turns out that the two kidnapped men are Maksim Odintsov and Alexander Baranov and that both of them are junior servicemen in the Russian military (ensign and junior sergeant). Apparently, what happened is this: Odintsov and Baranov used to serve in the Ukrainian military (at least that is what the SBU claims), but when Crimea, from where Odintsov and Baranov are, returned to Russia they did what tens of thousands of other Ukrainian servicemen did - they joined the Russian military. The two were lured to the neutral zone between Crimea and the Ukraine by men who promised them that they could give them diplomas proving that they had a higher education from Ukrainian institutions. You can watch this video to see what actually happened next (no translation needed):


Comment: Details on the missile-firing exercise:
Ukraine has made a unilateral decision to organize missile-firing exercises over Crimea, in the sovereign airspace of the Russian Federation, Russia's Federal Air Transport Agency Rosaviatsiya reported. Missiles will be fired in regions where civil and state aviation flights run.

Kiev's move breaches a number of international laws and agreements, Rosaviatsiya said, adding that not only will the military exercise invade Russian territory, but the plans also had not been coordinated with Moscow.

On Friday, Russia's Defense Ministry voiced protests against Kiev's intention to apply restrictions to airspace above the Black Sea and the Crimean peninsula due to missile-launching training. The ministry summoned Ukraine's military attache, to present him with an official diplomatic note.

Ukraine released an aviation notification on Thursday, activating "dangerous zones" in all flight levels near Crimea and the city of Simferopol for December 1 and 2, the agency reported. It added that the "dangerous" areas included airspace above open sea which is in Russia's area of responsibility, and over Russian territorial waters.
Ukraine's leadership is insane.


Cardboard Box

French government orders clear labeling on goods from Israeli settlements

Israel package warehouse
© Baz Ratner / ReutersA worker carries boxes containing wine bottles for export at Shiloh Wineries, north of the West Bank city of Ramallah November 8, 2015.
French vendors are now required to clearly mark all products from settlements in Israeli-occupied territories after Paris introduced import regulations in line with EU policy.

A year after the European Commission issued its guidelines on the indication of the origin of goods from territories occupied by Israel since June 1967, France went on to issue its own regulation. It was not immediately clear whether the notice published in the French Official Journal was mandatory or advisory.

The French guidelines state that in accordance with Commission rules adopted in November 2015, importers must mark the precise place from which the goods originate and not mark them as products of Israel.

Regulations apply to products that originate in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, which are considered occupied territories under international law.

Question

Republican or Democrat? What difference will it make for Palestine?

trump and mosque
© ReutersUS President-elect Donald Trump (L) and Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem's Old City
Donald Trump promises to be Israel's "best friend" when he enters the White House next year, to the delight of Israel's far right. Eminent Middle East scholars, however, aren't convinced Hillary Clinton would have been any better for the Palestinian people.

Speaking to RT's Rob Edwards at the Palestine Book Awards pre-launch event in London last week, two prize-winning authors said the Trump presidency is unlikely to become the horror show many anticipate for Israel-Palestine.