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Kashmir: 'Pivoting' toward war between India and Pakistan?

Junaid S. Ahmad
Global Research
Fri, 14 Oct 2016 21:38 UTC
Khanqah-e-Molla Shrine
Khanqah-e-Molla Shrine.
This past summer witnessed yet another people's uprising in one of the longest running military occupations in modern times: the Indian occupation of Kashmir. The callous indifference to decades-old Indian atrocities against the people of Kashmir, including well-documented incidences of torture, disappearances, 'encounter killings,' rapes, and outright massacres, ought to put the international community to shame. This, after all, is a 'conflict' - a euphemism for a military occupation - that the UN and international law has clearly adjudicated on many decades ago, but Indian recalcitrance, Pakistani fumbling, and international criminal neglect have let the blood of Kashmiris spill uninterruptedly.

What started out in June of this year as yet another outbreak of Kashmir outrage regarding the killing of a prominent Kashmiri freedom fighter very quickly became a pretext for the Indian elite to convert the issue of oppression and occupation of Kashmir into 'cross-border' terrorism from its arch-rival, Pakistan. It was a convenient diversion from the root of the conflict, the military occupation, to one of Pakistan up to its old tricks, sponsoring jihadi terrorists.

Comment: Also the North-South transit corridor: India's geopolitical hate for Pakistan is being used by the US to sabotage the North-South Transport Corridor

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Light Saber

Dr Papadopoulos schools the BBC on Syria and Russiaphobia in Britain


21st Century Wire
Fri, 14 Oct 2016 21:47 UTC
Dr Marcus Papadopoulos
© Inter TV/YoutubeDr Marcus Papadopoulos
Now here's a rare sight: the BBC allowed a genuine dissenting voice on to its airwaves.

Dr Marcus Papadopoulos, editor of Politics First, recently talked to the BBC News about the west's massive disinformation campaign targeting Syria, and misinformation and Britain's irrational fear-mongering over Russia.

This week, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson called for "demonstrations outside the Russian embassy", because of of what Johnson alleges as "war crimes" Syria. It seems that Johnson's dangerous rhetoric merely typifies a general level of ignorance and political malaise taking hold over the British Parliamentarians recently.

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Propaganda

Best of the Web: Battle for Aleppo: How the US manipulates humanitarianism for Imperialism

Steve Chovanec
Reports from Underground
Thu, 06 Oct 2016 00:00 UTC
bombs
© unknown
The United States is manipulating humanitarian concern in an effort to protect its proxy militias and its imperial regime-change project in Syria. The media and intellectual classes are dutifully falling in line, promoting a narrative of military aggression under the cover of "protecting civilians." These same "responsibility to protect" arguments led to the invasions of Iraq and Libya, exponentially increasing the massacres, chaos, and proliferation of violent extremism within those countries. They are hypocritical, designed to further interests of conquest and domination, and will lead to more death and destruction in Syria as well.

The United States has no stake in the well being of Syrian civilians, despite their condemnations of Russia's offensive in Aleppo. This is clearly shown in the fact that the people they are supporting are guilty of the same crimes they accuse Russia and Syria of: indiscriminate attacks, targeting of civilians, destruction of schools, hospitals, etc. Furthermore, the offensive in Aleppo is really no different from what the US did in Manbij, where they are said to have incorporated a "scorched earth policy" while they liberated the city from ISIS, whereby the civilian population was treated "as if they were terrorists or ISIS supporters." Arguably their conduct was even worse, as they there earned the distinction of launching the deadliest single airstrike on civilians out of the entire 5-year conflict, massacring at least 73 where no ISIS fighters were present. The Manbij operation elicited no moral outcry from the media and punditry, understandably since these were "unworthy victims" given that they were our victims and not those of our enemies. The same can be said about the US operations in Kobani and Fallujah, whereby the entire towns were essentially reduced to rubble without any uproar.
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Rocket

Best of the Web: Real war reporting: 'Rebel' attacks against Aleppo civilians not mentioned in Western media (VIDEO)


RT
Fri, 14 Oct 2016 20:53 UTC
Murad Gazdiev
© RTReal war reporting: RT’s Murad Gazdiev, someone who actually goes to war zones to get the facts, rather than sit in his office being fed lies by Western intelligence outfits.
The plight of civilians in western Aleppo, often targeted by rebels, is almost unknown to mainstream viewers. Five children were killed in the govt-controlled part of the city on Thursday, but the attack didn't get much notice from rights groups or the US.

A school and adjacent bus stop were hit by mortar shells in the Al-Suleymaniya neighborhood of Aleppo. Two children died on the spot and three others later in the hospital.

"Anxious relatives and parents cried and shouted and cursed the rebels and their backers," RT's Murad Gazdiev reported from the Al Razi Hospital, where the victims were taken.

"They were just schoolchildren, my pupils," their teacher told RT.

While filming at the hospital, the RT crew saw the appalling aftermath of indiscriminate fire in western Aleppo. Ten-year-old boy Hassan, born deaf and mute, lost a foot in shelling two days ago, but survived.

WARNING: You may find this footage disturbing

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Propaganda

NYT finds 'hidden hand' in war on Yemen that was never hidden


Moon of Alabama
Fri, 14 Oct 2016 21:23 UTC
Yesterday the U.S. openly attacked Yemen by firing cruise missiles against old Yemeni radar stations. This, allegedly, in response to four missiles fired on two days against a U.S. destroyer at the Yemeni coast. The U.S. Navy said the missiles fell short. They were unable to reach the ship. No one but the navy, especially no one in Yemen, has seen or reported any such missile launches - short or long.

The U.S. is in alliance with Saudi Arabia, the UAE and other countries in bombing Yemen for 18 month now. They totally blockade the coast of the country that depends on imports of food and medicines. The actively fighting countries are heavily supported by the U.S. military. This has been widely admitted by U.S. officials and in military reports. The U.S. government even feared of being held legally responsible for the carnage it causes.

But since the launch of the cruise missile U.S. media have totally forgotten all of this. Now the U.S. "has been attacked", without any recognizable reason, and is only "defending" itself. No legal consequences are to fear now. Anyone who believes that the U.S. is somehow responsible for the at least 10,000 dead and the many starving people in Yemen must somehow believe in a mysterious conspiracy.
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Compass

Thailand: Some truth before the storm

Tony Cartalucci
New Eastern Outlook
Thu, 13 Oct 2016 21:09 UTC
martial law thailand 2014
Thailand is a pivotal nation centered amid Southeast Asia and commanding a prominent economy with a large population. It played a pivotal role during the US war in Vietnam, but has since then incrementally diverged from serving US hegemony in Asia.

As of now, Thailand has clearly and decisively performed its own "pivot" away from Washington and toward a diverse portfolio of alternative ties, including with Beijing and Moscow. Its military inventory has been incrementally transformed from housing aging American hardware to Russian, Chinese, Middle Eastern, and even Swedish weapon systems. It also is increasingly cooperating closer with China regarding economics and regional security, a role the US has presumed a monopoly over for decades.

In fact, Thailand has diverged so much so that its political stability has now become the regular target of US efforts to undermine it. This includes through economic and sociopolitical attacks, as well as through covert means up to and including terrorism.

The key to Thailand's political stability, despite fierce infighting between rival special interests and political camps throughout the nation's ancient history, has been the nations much revered and unique monarchy. Knowing this and seeking to undermine stability in Thailand, and thus undermine yet another ally of Beijing and Moscow, the United States through its media has pursued a campaign of disinformation to attack and destroy the monarchy, hoping Thailand emerges exponentially weaker after the current head of state, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, passes on from advanced age.

Comment: More background on U.S. meddling in Thailand:

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Bad Guys

FSA butchers to death their own commander in Idlib


FARS News Agency
Fri, 14 Oct 2016 21:10 UTC
Zaydaan Nusayraat and to the right, his murderer Ahmad Al-‘Awda
Zaydaan Nusayraat and to the right, his murderer Ahmad Al-‘Awda.
A notorious terrorist group in Syria's Idlib province confirmed the death of the group ringleader as militants of Free Syrian Army (FSA) group tortured to death one of their senior commanders after accusing him of negotiating with the Syrian government.

According to local sources, Colonel Zaidan Nesairat of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) was tortured to death by another FSA faction, apparently as he was accused by FSA fellow militants of trying to negotiate with the Syrian government for reconciliation in Dara'a, Al Masdar reported.

Also, the group called 'Liwa Shuhada al Islam' confirmed in a statement that the group leader, nom de guerre Abu Jafar Al Hindi has been declared dead.

Although the statement has not specifically said how he died but reports suggest he drowned in a river near Darkoush, in terrorist held Idlib province.
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Bad Guys

Lattakia: Syrian customs confiscate terrorists' vehicle packed with RPG and ammunition


FARS News Agency
Fri, 14 Oct 2016 21:02 UTC
Confiscated arms in Syria
The Syrian custom officers confiscated a vehicle packed with weapons and ammunition in Lattakia province.

A vehicle full of different types of rocket-propelled grenades and explosives was seized by the custom officers along a road from Lattakia to Hama province.

The customs department and the army declined to provide any further details.

On Thursday, the Syrian air force started a new round of attacks on the terrorist groups' supply routes in the Northern parts of Lattakia, inflicting major casualties on the militants.
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Solar Flares

Air Force investigates outage of secret computer network at major drone base


RT
Fri, 14 Oct 2016 15:30 UTC
U.S. Air Force MQ-9 Reaper drone
© Josh Smith / Reuters
The US Air Force is reportedly looking into a computer system outage at a base it uses to operate armed drones over Afghanistan, Pakistan and Syria. The failure could be linked to a number of fatal battlefield incidents days after it was revealed.

However, the Air Force has kept silent, refusing to publicly elaborate on either the outage or the possible impact it had.

When contacted by BuzzFeed News, military spokesman Major Malinda Singleton only said that "the investigation into the issue is ongoing."

The system failure dates back to September 9, but was only discovered nearly a month later from a contractor notice from the government.

The Air Force posted a bid on FedBizOpps, the government's primary tender market, on October 7, saying that "the SIPRNet system currently in operation at Creech AFB failed and critical services were impacted."

Comment: And now for something completely unrelated: Russia successfully tests radio-electronic weapon unmatched anywhere in the world



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Pistol

DOJ to begin collecting information on police shootings and use-of-force


RT
Fri, 14 Oct 2016 20:46 UTC
Police rutality protest North Carolina
© Mike Blake / Reuter Protesters walk in the streets downtown during another night of protests over the police shooting of Keith Scott in Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S. September 22, 2016.
Police accountability is increasingly a hot button issue, and the Justice Department's lack of data on police shootings has been an object of scrutiny. The DOJ now says that it will start collecting nationwide data on violent encounters next year.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch released a plan from the Department of Justice (DOJ) to further police accountability Thursday evening. Currently, the most accurate databases on police shootings are operated by news outlets and other private initiatives, such as the Washington Post's database and Fatal Encounters.

The DOJ has kept no comprehensive database or record of police shootings and only used voluntarily reported numbers provided by local law enforcement agencies. Only two states are required to report officer-involved deaths. The reports from these states have been found to be inaccurate, further frustrating activists.

"I can't believe two years into this crisis that we're still having conversations about data," Kanya Bennett, a lawyer in Washington for the American Civil Liberties Union, told the New York Times.

Bennett is not the only one who has expressed her frustration with the void of information. Last year, FBI Director James B. Comey called the lack of data "embarrassing" and said, "We can't have an informed discussion because we don't have data."

"People have data about who went to a movie last weekend, or how many books were sold," Comey said, "and I cannot tell you how many people were shot by police in the United States last month, last year, or anything about the demographic. And that's a very bad place to be."

Comment: The DOJ may have a hard time getting cooperation from local and state forces if the two states required to submit reports are doing a shoddy job.

RT:
Hundreds of police departments in two states were found to have broken laws mandating police reports for in-custody deaths. Registries required by California and Texas were missing a total of 660 deaths from 2005 to 2015.

They are the only two states that require law enforcement to report all in-custody deaths, but it seems enforcing the law is trickier than anyone imagined. Research from Texas State University in San Marco found that the two states did not report hundreds of deaths that involved officers during a 10-year period.
[...]
California's failure to report officer-involved deaths seems to have been a chronic problem in the state. Nicole Nishida, a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman, explained that her department's failure to file required forms from 2006 to 2011 could be chalked up to a "clerical error" that was related to the form.


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