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The Iran-Russia-China strategic Eurasia triangle

F. William Engdahl
New Eastern Outlook
Mon, 21 Nov 2016 21:11 UTC
China railway
The developing economic, political and military links binding Iran, China and Russia in what I see as an emerging Golden Triangle in Eurasia, are continuing to deepen in significant areas. This, while it seems to be US geopolitical strategy in a prospective Trump Administration to distance Washington from both Iran and from China, while dangling the carrot of lessened confrontation between Washington and Moscow - classic Halford Mackinder or Kissinger geopolitics of avoiding a two-front war that was colossally backfiring on Washington by trying to shift the power balance. At present, the dynamic of the past several years of closer cooperation by the three pivotal states of the Eurasian Heartland is gaining strategic momentum. The latest is the visit of China's Minister of Defense and of Russian senior officials to Teheran.

On November 14-15 in Teheran, during a high-level visit of the Chinese Defense Minister, General Chang Wanquan, with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan, the two major Eurasian nations signed a deal to enhance military cooperation. The agreement calls for intensification of bilateral military training and closer cooperation on what the Iran sees as regional security issues, with terrorism and Syria at the top of the list. Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, Major General Mohammad Hossein Baqeri, said Iran is ready to share with China its experiences in fighting against the terrorist groups in Iraq and Syria. Dehghan added that the agreement represents an "upgrade in long-term military and defense cooperation with China."
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Info

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) meets with Trump, talks foreign policy, ending the regime-change option in Syria

Alex Daugherty
McClatchyDC
Mon, 21 Nov 2016 21:24 UTC
Tulsi Gabbard
Tulsi Gabbard is willing to go out on a limb.

The Democratic U.S. congresswoman from Hawaii was one of the first Democrats to support Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, and now she is one of the first Democrats to meet with President-elect Donald Trump.

Gabbard met with Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence on Monday morning, but Trump spokesman Jason Miller said it was "premature" to discuss Gabbard's potential role in the Trump administration.

Instead, Gabbard and Trump talked foreign policy.

Gabbard is a noted critic of intervention in Syria, and does not support a no-fly zone or using U.S. resources to topple Syrian president Bashir al-Assad's regime. She argues that fighting Assad makes it harder to resist ISIS and al-Qaeda.
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Stock Down

Joining the EU? Ukraine's economy is further from European standards than ever

Eduard Popov
Fort Russ
Mon, 21 Nov 2016 20:26 UTC
Ukraine Kiev Poroshenko corruption collapse oligarchs economy
Translated by J. Arnoldski

On November 21st, Ukrainian President Poroshenko admitted that Ukrainians' quality of life has not improved over the three years since the events on the Maidan and is still far from European standards. However, he did find an excuse for his failed economic policies, explaining the failures of Ukraine's economy by "objective factors" and the need to spend more than 5% of GDP on "the defense and security sector and the creation of a new army."

In addition, Poroshenko tried to shift the blame onto his predecessors, saying that economic reforms necessary to ensure the necessary growth of the economy had not been pursued in the country for a long time.

The Euromaidan, as we remember, stood under one main slogan: joining the EU, which the "criminal regime" of President Yanukovych hindered. After nearly 3 years since the victory of the Maidan and the overthrow of the "criminal" government, no one is waiting for Ukraine in the EU and Ukrainians' living standards have declined dramatically.

Comment: And from here we learn:
According to the United Nations' survey of living standards in Ukraine, most of Ukrainians are living below the poverty level, which means they can afford to spend less than five U.S. dollars, or about 130 hryvnias under the current exchange rate, a day. According to the United Nations experts, incomes of up to 80% of Ukrainians are below this index. Thus, the actual minimum income level for survival in Ukraine is 33.5 hryvnias, or 1.5 U.S. dollars, a day.


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Quenelle - Golden

Russia finally says 'enough' to the corrupt ICC


Fort Russ
Mon, 21 Nov 2016 20:10 UTC
putin

Originally in Ronald ZONCA, in Boulevard Voltaire, translated by Tom Winter

It has to be said: the International Criminal Court is just another means of repression and oppression of sovereign peoples.

Russia has just signified its withdrawal from the International Criminal Court (ICC) in view of its inefficiency and its partiality in choosing what to investigate. A reading of the "Report on Preliminary Examination Activities in 2016" proves that it's a matter of justice by fiat.

The case of Ukraine is particularly revealing. This country is not a signatory to the Rome Statute and therefore does not recognize the ICC. But it intervenes on complaints filed by the current government, even though the current government came out of a coup d'etat.

Comment: The recent ICC report, the full text of which can be found here, managed to repeat all the tired propaganda the world has been forced to listen to since Russia's annexation of Crimea. Despite having been 'investigating' the Ukrainian crisis since April 2014, all they managed to come up with was:
  • Russia invaded Ukraine
  • Russia stole Crimea and,
  • Russia is responsible for crimes in both
With such a blatant contempt for facts, and with such an obvious agenda, it's no wonder that Russia left this kangaroo court behind.

Further reading:

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Clock

Syrian Army reportedly advancing in Aleppo, thousands of recruits join for big offensive

Alexander Mercouris
The Duran
Mon, 21 Nov 2016 20:08 UTC
aleppo
As the Syrian army presses deeper into the Jihadi controlled districts of eastern Aleppo, intense urban warfare is expected to intensify.

Though the major weight of the Syrian army's offensive is against the Jihadi forces still concentrated west of Aleppo, news reports are trickling in that the Syrian army has advanced further into the Jihadi controlled pocket in eastern Aleppo, seizing most of the district of Bostan al-Pasha.

There is a widespread misconception about the landscape of the Jihadi pocket in eastern Aleppo. It is generally assumed that this is a heavily built up urban area, and that its capture will require intense street fighting at which the Jihadis are supposed to excel.

This is only partly true. The fact that the total area of the Jihadi controlled districts of eastern Aleppo is roughly similar to that of government controlled western Aleppo, but that before the war what are now the Jihadi controlled districts of eastern Aleppo had a population of just 250,000 out of a total population for the city of over 2 million, shows that these are far less dense suburban districts, with apparently a significant number of relatively open areas with more built up areas interspersed between them.

Comment: From Ziad Fadel at SyrPer, 13,000 new troops are on their way to Aleppo:
Last Thursday, the people of East Aleppo rose up in a massive demonstration to get the rodents out so that the government could restore order, dignity, medical services and food supplies. Do you know what the rodents did in response? They opened fire on the citizens killing a reported 142 men, women and children. These are maniacal psychopaths whose orders come from British terrorist enablers in Turkey. The SAA-MI monitored closely communications between the Harakat Nooreddeen Al-Zangi and both American and British handlers in Gaziantep. Their orders were clear: "don't surrender or pull out lest you face complete abandonment and execution by the Syrian Army". The situation is now perilous for everyone in East Aleppo.
...
The local Aleppan terrorists want desperately to surrender and avail themselves of the amnesty program. But, the Nusra/Alqaeda and Zangi foreign terrorists know they are going to be killed and will not agree to any plan for the evacuation or pacification of the area. DeMistura, imbecile par excellence, will not come to grips with this fact. He persists in promoting the American-Saudi-Turk agenda which is to hold out for as long as possible.


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Attention

Going down the rabbit hole - Understanding #PizzaGate

Stirling
YouTube
Mon, 21 Nov 2016 20:52 UTC
Pedophilia Symbols
© FBIInternational FBI Pedophilia Symbols (2007)

Comment: The evidence is highly suggestive and creepy, but it's best not to overstate the evidence, which is ambiguous in many cases, and totally overblown in others. For our take: Progressive liberal values: Tony Podesta's creepy taste in art, the creepy people he hangs out with, and Pizzagate

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Info

Maduro slams Obama, expresses hope for better relations with Trump

Lucas Koerner
Venezuelanalysis
Mon, 21 Nov 2016 20:57 UTC
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro
© PresidencialVen
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro hit back at US President Barack Obama after the latter expressed veiled criticisms of Venezuela at an international trade summit in Peru.

Speaking at an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit meeting in Lima, the outgoing US leader took aim at Latin American countries he described as maintaining "repressive non-democratic governance".

"You're seeing some countries that are going backward rather than forwards in terms of freedom of press, freedom of the internet, in terms of respecting political opposition and civil society," he said in a not so subtle reference to left-leaning governments in Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Nicaragua.

"You can maintain order for a while with repressive nondemocratic governance, but it will rot from within," the head of state continued. "Over time, those governments fail and those economies fail."

Comment: It will be interesting to see if Trump will change course on Latin America. The long standing foreign policy will be hard to erradicate:

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Megaphone

UK Think Tank report finds more KGB under the bed: Dissenters are Putin's agents


RT
Mon, 21 Nov 2016 19:14 UTC
RT second opinion

An influential right-wing think-tank has proposed a radical clampdown on politicians and other prominent figures sympathetic to Russia by "challenging their credibility," revealing their "insidious means of funding," and forcing them to reveal if they receive money for appearing on RT.

The new report, published by the Henry Jackson Society comes as the EU parliament prepares to debate how to resist "disinformation and propaganda" from Russia on Tuesday.


Comment: Between this, the recent 'fake news sites' story, and the creeping legislation aimed at banning certain corners of the internet, it sure looks like the powers that be have been shaken by the recent failures of Western mainstream media, and they are getting more desperate in their bid to remove their competition.


Called 'Putin's Useful Idiots,' the 17-page document was written by Andrew Foxall, the Director of the Russia Studies Centre at the conservative think tank. Foxall said that "Putin makes for a deceptive and dangerous friend" for "those on the left who can be relied upon to stand up for the West's enemies whoever and wherever they may be, and those on the right who see Moscow as a defender of conservative values."


Comment: Well, those so called 'West's enemies' do have legitimate grievances, and Russia is a defender of conservative values. There's only so long you can deny reality.


Among the examples on the right, are UKIP leader Nigel Farage, who has regularly appeared on RT for a decade, and Nick Griffin, the former BNP leader, who reportedly travels to Russia regularly to participate in nationalist conferences, and has said that he is open to funding from Russia for his anti-NATO activist group.

Comment: They are shooting themselves in the foot with every dumb report like this. Eventually the 'Boy who cried Russia' will no longer be believed and people will simply walk away.

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Propaganda

Stories of intentional hospital bombings in Syria are false - western media reports biased, unconfirmed

Alexander Mercouris
The Duran
Mon, 21 Nov 2016 19:43 UTC
Homs destruction
© Associated Press
Allegations in Western media of intentional hospital bombings by Syria and Russia remain uncorroborated by actual reporters on the ground.

Right on cue, directly after the Russians and the Syrians resume their offensive in northeast Syria and around Aleppo, come more claims that the Syrians and the Russians are deliberately bombing hospitals in Aleppo and elsewhere.

I have previously made known my skepticism about these claims. No one has ever explained why the Russians and the Syrians would intentionally attack hospitals in this way. President Assad has pointed out that it makes no sense and would be completely counterproductive for the Syrians to do so.

In any discussion of alleged hospital bombings in Syria, the following always needs to be kept in mind.

There are no Western journalists in Jihadi controlled eastern Aleppo and scarcely anywhere else in Syria. The Western journalists that are in Syria largely stick to the government controlled areas. Very occasionally the odd Western journalist travels into Jihadi controlled areas, but it is a long time since any have visited eastern Aleppo, in fact - they have not done so since it came under siege.

Comment:

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Arrow Down

Bahrain fails to deliver on pledge to combat human rights abuses


Sputnik
Mon, 21 Nov 2016 19:44 UTC
Bahrain protests
© AFP 2016/ Mohammed al-Shaikh
Bahrain has failed to fulfill the promises made following the uprising of 2011 to combat human rights violations by security forces and to hold anyone responsible for such crimes accountable, an international watchdog revealed in a report issued on Monday.

According to Amnesty International, security forces in Bahrain had killed at least 30 protesters while arresting and torturing many others during peaceful protests that had spread out across Bahrain in February and March of 2011 to call for government reforms.

The actions performed by the security forces have caused an international outrage, which led King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa of Bahrain to amend several laws and to create the post of ombudsman of the Ministry of Interior and the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) within the Public Prosecution Office in 2012. Both institutions that receive training from the United Kingdom were created to investigate human rights violations and to prosecute people responsible for committing human rights violations.

Comment: No worries! Bahrain is a friend of the West, at least to our weapons manufacturers. In time maybe they can build up enough abuses to lead the United Nations Human Rights Council.

The situation in Bahrain follows a pretty simple formula: prop up Western strongman, instigate uprising and opposition, import mercenaries, and sell weapons to perpetuate conflict.

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