Puppet MastersS


Vader

Really? Pentagon data suggests US airstrikes only killed 64 civilians in Syria and Iraq during past year


RT
Thu, 10 Nov 2016 02:53 UTC
US airstrikes civilian infrastructure
© Ahmad AL-Rubaye / AFP
The US military has released its assessment of civilian casualties in US airstrikes in Iraq and Syria over the past 10 months. Official data suggest 64 people were killed and eight more injured in 24 separate strikes since November 2015.

"In each of the cases released today, the assessment determined that although all feasible precautions were taken and strikes complied with laws of armed conflict, civilian casualties unfortunately did occur," Colonel John Thomas, a spokesman for US Central Command, said in a statement.

Mitigating civilian casualties remains a "key component" of the anti-IS (Islamic State, formerly ISIS/ISIL) air campaign in Syria and Iraq, the military emphasized, acknowledging a handful of deadly strikes which were blamed on the US-led coalition.


Comment: How is bombing hospitals, wedding parties, residential areas and civilian infrastructure meant to 'mitigate' civilian casualties?

Comment: Willful blindness: The US has killed far more civilians in Iraq and Syria than it acknowledges

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Cross

Pardons, executive orders, 'midnight' regulations expected as Obama leaves office

Stephen Dinan
The Washington Times
Tue, 08 Nov 2016 00:17 UTC
President Obama
© The Washington Times
Look out for the executive orders, the "midnight" regulations and, perhaps most controversially, the pardons.

As President Obama runs out the clock on his eight-year tenure, analysts say, he still has plenty of business left undone, and they expect him to follow the lead of other presidents and issue a series of rules, to add to his list of executive orders, to continue his record-setting pace of commutations and perhaps add a controversial pardon or two into the mix.

"I do think a pardon for Huma and Weiner might happen," said Michael McKenna, a Republican lobbyist, referring to Huma Abedin and her estranged husband, Anthony D. Weiner, whose emails are being scoured by the FBI for wrongdoing.



Comment: He may pardon Hillary, too.


Truly lame-duck presidents are freed from political concerns, don't have to worry about other elections and can even help take political heat off their successor — or try to lock in their own policies that their successor might not fully support.

For Mr. Obama, who already has set records for the most expansive regulatory agenda in U.S. history, his final months offer a chance to pad his lead and plow new ground, particularly on energy and environmental issues.
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Handcuffs

Donald Trump could actually take steps to try and jail Hillary Clinton

Matt Zapotosky
The Washington Post
Wed, 09 Nov 2016 00:08 UTC
Trump and Clinton
© Mike Blake / Reuters
Donald Trump said at a debate last month that he would appoint a special prosecutor to examine Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server during her time as secretary of state and remarked that she would "be in jail" if he were president.

In about two months, he'll have the power to potentially make that a reality.

He wouldn't, of course, be able to snap his fingers and throw his political rival behind bars. He would have to order his attorney general to appoint a special prosecutor, then count on that special prosecutor to agree with his assessment that Clinton's email practices violated criminal laws about mishandling classified information. And even if he did all that and Clinton was charged, she would still be afforded a trial, and Trump's special prosecutor would have to contend with evidence that led the original team of federal investigators to conclude there was not sufficient basis to believe a crime occurred.

Comment: Trump's campaign is still looking into prosecuting Clinton: Trump campaign manager: 'Special prosecutor for Hillary Clinton in due time'. If he wants to keep his popularity, he'd better keep his promise.

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Info

49 Chinese officials and managers jailed over Tianjin explosions that killed 165


RT
Thu, 10 Nov 2016 00:01 UTC
Tianjin explosion
© Jason Lee / Reuters
Forty-nine people have been sentenced to prison over a series of huge explosions in the northeastern Chinese city of Tianjin which killed at least 165 people in 2015.

A Chinese court sentenced 25 government officials and 24 company managers over the massive blasts in Tianjin warehouses last year, the Xinhua news agency said on Wednesday.

The explosions occurred shortly before midnight on August 12 2015, when two enormous explosions erupted from a shipment of explosives in a container storage station in the major transport hub.
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Snakes in Suits

Killary versus Donald: Ding dong, the witch is dead! Victory for the Wizard of Oz!

Diana Johnstone
Global Research
Wed, 09 Nov 2016 23:48 UTC
Donald Trump
"There's no place like home."

That's the lesson. Even when home is Kansas.

The real meaning of this election is not, as bitterly disappointed Hillary supporters still maintain with tears in their eyes and fear in their throats, a victory for racism and sexism.

The real meaning of this upset is that Wall Street's globalization project has been rejected by the citizens of its homeland.

This has major implications for the European nations that have been dragged along into this ruinous project.

Comment: More analysis: Donald Trump Elected President, Democrats and Liberals Freak Out

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Snakes in Suits

WikiLeaks 36: 300 more Podesta emails


RT
Wed, 09 Nov 2016 23:36 UTC
John Podesta
© Carlos Barria / Reuters
Although the US presidential election is over, WikiLeaks is continuing to publish the emails of Hillary Clinton's campaign chair John Podesta, who remains a major player in Washington. This is the 36th batch of emails, released in a constant drip over the past month.

The whistleblowing website has published close to 56,000 emails from Podesta's private account since October 7, sometimes more than once a day, revealing the internal communications of Clinton's campaign staff.
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Radar

NATO launches new maritime operation Sea Guardian in Mediterranean


RT
Wed, 09 Nov 2016 23:30 UTC
Italian frigate ITS Aviere
© marina.difesa.itItalian frigate ITS Aviere
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has officially announced the immediate start of a new maritime operation Sea Guardian which aims at increasing security amid an anti-terror fight in the Mediterranean.

"Today, NATO begins a new standing maritime security operation in the Mediterranean Sea named Operation Sea Guardian," the bloc's press release stated.

The first round of naval patrols will be conducted by "the Italian frigate ITS Aviere, the Bulgarian frigate BGS Verni, the Turkish frigate TCG Gemlik."
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Info

Cuba announces nationwide military exercises after Trump victory


RT
Wed, 09 Nov 2016 22:31 UTC
Cuban tanks on parade
© Claudia Daut / Reuters
The Cuban government announced five days of pre-existing military exercises across the country to prepare the troops to deal with "a range of enemy actions." The news comes right after Donald Trump secured a win in US presidential elections.

The drills were announced in red letters on the front page of the country's main newspaper, the Communist Party's Granma, Reuters reported.

The drills will see the army, interior ministry and other forces engage in various types of tactical exercises are to take place from November16 to 20.
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Info

Zakharova: Western countries funding 'local councils' affiliated to terrorist organizations in Aleppo

Manar al-Freih and Hazem Sabbagh
SANA
Tue, 08 Nov 2016 22:26 UTC
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova affirmed that Western countries including the United States are currently funding the so called "local councils" which are affiliated to terrorist organizations in the eastern neighborhoods of Aleppo city.

In a statement on Tuesday, Zakharova said that according to the available information, these councils were funded at the beginning by Qatar, but now the US, Britain, France, the UAE, and Scandinavian countries are the major funders of these councils.

She pointed out that these councils were working to foil the UN operation for delivering aid to the eastern neighborhoods of Aleppo via al-Castello road, and they were responsible for preventing the evacuation of sick and injured people from those neighborhoods recently.
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Radar

Russian ships chase away 'dangerously maneuvering' Dutch submarine


RT
Wed, 09 Nov 2016 22:19 UTC
The anti-submarine warfare (ASW) ship Vice Admiral Kulakov
© Dover-Marina.com / SputnikThe anti-submarine warfare (ASW) ship Vice Admiral Kulakov
A Russian naval group in the Mediterranean spotted and chased away a Dutch submarine, which approached the ships to monitor their activities, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced. Moscow criticized Holland's "awkward" actions.

On Wednesday, the Russian "naval search-and-assault group of large anti-submarine vessels, 'Severomorsk' and 'Vice-Admiral Kulakov,' spotted the diesel-electric submarine (presumably 'Walrus') of the Netherlands' Navy, [which] tried to approach the carrier battle group of the Northern Fleet for monitoring," the Russian Ministry of Defense said.

The Dutch vessel was "easily" spotted some 20 kilometers away from the Russian naval group.

"[Russian] ships were tracking [the Dutch submarine's] maneuvers and forced it to leave the area of the carrier group," the statement by the MoD said.
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