Puppet MastersS


Ambulance

At least 15 civilians killed and 13 injured in US drone strike in Afghanistan


RT
Fri, 30 Sep 2016 15:13 UTC
MQ-9 Reaper drone
© Josh Smith / Reuters A U.S. Air Force MQ-9 Reaper drone takes off from Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan
An airstrike designed to target Islamic State militants in Nangarhar, eastern Afghanistan, has killed at least 15 civilians and injured another 13, including a child. The UN said the strike was carried out by an international drone, which only the US operates.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has condemned the killing of the civilians, calling on the Afghan government and international military forces to launch a "prompt, independent, impartial, transparent, and effective investigation into the incident." The airstrike took place in the Achin district of the Nangarhar province, on the eastern border with Pakistan, early Wednesday morning.

The UN said the civilians had gathered in a village to celebrate the return of a tribal elder from the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca and were sleeping in a guesthouse of the elder when the airstrike took place.

"A drone targeted the house and killed most of them," Mohammed Ali, the Achin district police chief, told Reuters.
Civilian victims of the strike included students and a teacher, according to the UN.

"I saw dead and wounded bodies everywhere," Raghon Shinwari, who was injured in the attack, told Reuters, speaking from a hospital bed in Jalalabad city.

Afghan government sources told the UN mission that Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) personnel also died in the attack. Provincial police spokesman Hazrat Hussain Mashriqiwal confirmed that several IS leaders had been killed, but denied there were any noncombatants among the victims, Reuters reported.

The US military acknowledged it had conducted an aerial attack in Nangarhar, but refused to discuss the incident.
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Chess

US to continue saber-rattling in Asia Pacific with more subs and undersea drones


RT
Fri, 30 Sep 2016 15:09 UTC
aircraft carrier
© Siu Chiu / ReutersThe U.S. Navy's USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier
The United States aims to "sharpen its military edge" in Asia Pacific with modernized military equipment to "undergird security" in the region and counter China's rising military might, US Defense Secretary Ash Carter has said.

"The United States will continue to sharpen our military edge so we remain the most powerful military in [Asia Pacific] and the security partner of choice," Ash Carter pledged on Thursday in a speech aboard the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson in San Diego. Carter said the Pentagon will focus its efforts on modernizing its military capabilities in the region, including Air Force modernization of the KC-46A tanker, B-21 bomber and F-35 joint strike fighter. It also plans to invest in undersea drones and advanced torpedoes, the Military Times reports.

Carter added there would be "a few surprises" in the new technological developments as well, but did not specify the details. "I can't share all the details on these for obvious reasons, but what our friends and our potential adversaries - and all of you - should know is that these new capabilities will help us keep our decades-old commitment to undergirding security in the Asia-Pacific," the Pentagon chief said.

The aim of all these improvements, Carter said, is to ensure the region "remains a place where every nation can rise and prosper," even at a time of political, economic, and security changes and challenges. Among these he named North Korea's "nuclear saber-rattling," terrorism, transnational threats, and maritime concerns, alluding to China's claims disputed areas of the South China Sea and Beijing "sometimes behaving aggressively."
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Info

Moscow launches criminal cases against leaders of Ukrainian radical group Right Sector


RT
Fri, 30 Sep 2016 15:06 UTC
Ukrainian radical group Right Sector
© Alexandr Maksimenko / Sputnik
Russian investigators have launched criminal cases against several leaders of the Ukrainian radical group Right Sector, saying that they possessed evidence of extremism and numerous crimes against Russian citizens and institutions.

The Russian federal law enforcement agency specializing in very serious cases - the Investigative Committee - released a press statement on Friday saying that its own department for war crimes along with Russia's Interior Ministry and Federal Security Service obtained evidence against members and leaders of the Right Sector extremist group. Right Sector activities have been banned in Russia since late 2014.

The agency reported that on the basis of this evidence, they have initiated criminal cases against Right Sector leaders Dmitry Yarosh, Andrey Tarasenko, and several other top members of the group on charges of extremist activities - a crime that is punished with up to eight years in prison.

"It is established that the Right Sector group, founded by Yarosh in 2013, is based on radical Ukrainian nationalism, overt Russophobia, and fascism with the declared goal of 'armed resistance to Moscow aggression' that was put into practice through the justification of political, racial, ethnic and religious violence," the statement read.

Comment: Also Russia is pursuing a criminal probe on Duma election day violence in Ukraine: Russia initiates criminal probe into Kiev embassy attacks on Duma Election Day

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Yoda

Best of the Web: A year of Russia fighting against Western imperialism: 5 key milestones of the Russian air campaign in Syria


RT
Fri, 30 Sep 2016 14:58 UTC
russia airstrikes
Precisely a year ago Moscow joined the campaign in Syria at the request of Damascus. While killing thousands of jihadists, Russia suffered military losses, but became one of the driving forces behind attempts at the national reconciliation process.

On September 30, 2015 Russian jets conducted their first strikes against terrorist targets in Syria, hitting Islamic State (IS, formerly known as ISIS/ISIL) positions near the cities of Homs and Hama.

By that time the US-led coalition had been already active in Syria for over a year. Yet Russia became the only state which received an official request from Syrian President Bashar Assad to conduct air strikes in the country. The Russian jets operated from the Khmeimim air base located in Syria's Latakia Governorate.

Liberation of Palmyra

During its mission, the Russian Air Force aided the Syrian army in liberating one of the country's key cities and a world heritage site - Palmyra. The ancient city had been under the control of IS since May 2015 before it was retaken by government forces backed by Russian airstrikes in March this year.

Jihadists destroyed numerous historical landmarks during the occupation, while leaving roads, houses and monuments booby trapped. Russian and Syrian sappers defused thousands of mines left by the terrorists after their retreat. Following the liberation of the ravaged city, the world-famous Russian conductor Valery Gergiev led a concert in Palmyra to support its restoration and honor the victims of the war.

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Bad Guys

'Best gift to terrorists': Samantha Power's claim versus reality


RT
Fri, 30 Sep 2016 14:25 UTC
Kerry and Lavrov
The US' refusal to cooperate with Russia would be a real "gift" to terrorists in Syria, on a par with its failure to separate "moderates" from jihadists and the recent airstrike against Syrian army, Moscow said in response to a barrage of criticism from Washington.

US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power accused the Syrian and Russian governments of carrying out a "soul-shattering" air campaign in Aleppo, saying that their anti-terror efforts would only lead to more "radicalization" and a greater refugee flow out of Syria.


Comment: The flow of refugees will be 'moderate rebels' leaving.


"What they are doing is a gift to [Islamic State] and [al-Nusra Front], the groups that they claim that they want to stop," Power said Thursday.


Comment: The gift would be from the US-led coalition supplying more weapons and aid to the head-choppers so that sounds like a veiled threat.

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Cow Skull

UN rejects resolution demanding independent probe into Saudi war crimes in Yemen, adopts a milder form to appease Saudis


RT
Fri, 30 Sep 2016 14:26 UTC

An EU-backed resolution demanding an independent inquiry into human rights violations during the Yemeni war has been withdrawn at the UN Human Rights Council. Instead, to activists' discontent, a weakened "reasonable compromise" text has been adopted.

A "strong" resolution submitted by Slovenia and backed by 21 other EU states failed at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on Tuesday, September 27. EU members had requested an "independent" international inquiry "to monitor and report on the situation of human rights in Yemen, on violations and abuses thereof since September 2014."


As a result of days of behind-the-scenes talks, an updated and far milder "compromise" version of the resolution drawn up by Sudan on behalf of African Group was adopted without a vote on Thursday.

The resolution now calls for the allocation of "additional international human rights experts to its Yemen programme in coordination with the Government of Yemen" and the assurance that "the National Commission investigates allegations of violation and abuse committed by all parties to the conflict."

Comment: The UN is a worthless organization meant to give the appearance a world run by benevolent people so that psychopaths can continue to wreak havoc with impunity.

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Info

Three Chinese fishermen killed in clash with South Korea coastguard

Ju-min Park
Reuters
Fri, 30 Sep 2016 13:55 UTC
South Korea’s coast guard said three Chinese fishermen found dead
© South Korean Mokpo Coast Guard via AP
Three Chinese fishermen were killed on Thursday in a fire that broke out on their boat when South Korean coastguard men trying to apprehend them for illegal fishing threw flash grenades into a room they were hiding in, a South Korean official said.

Disputes over illegal fishing are an irritant in relations between China and U.S. ally South Korea, even as their economic relations grow close. They also share concern about North Korea's nuclear weapon and missile programs.

The three men were believed to have suffocated, a coastguard official in the South Korean port city of Mokpo said, adding that the incident was being investigated.

The fire broke out in the boat's steering room, the official, who is not authorized to speak with media and declined to be identified, told Reuters by telephone.
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Stock Down

Why there is Trump: It's the Roman empire all over again


The Automatic Earth
Mon, 26 Sep 2016 00:00 UTC
Dorothea Lange Family
© SHORPYDorothea Lange Family of rural rehabilitation client, Tulare County, CA 1938
It's over! The entire model our societies have been based on for at least as long as we ourselves have lived, is over! That's why there's Trump.

There is no growth. There hasn't been any real growth for years. All there is left are empty hollow sunshiny S&P stock market numbers propped up with ultra cheap debt and buybacks, and employment figures that hide untold millions hiding from the labor force. And most of all there's debt, public as well as private, that has served to keep an illusion of growth alive and now increasingly no longer can.

These false growth numbers have one purpose only: for the public to keep the incumbent powers that be in their plush seats. But they could always ever only pull the curtain of Oz over people's eyes for so long, and it's no longer so long.

That's what the ascent of Trump means, and Brexit, Le Pen, and all the others. It's over. What has driven us for all our lives has lost both its direction and its energy.
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Chess

The best gift to terrorists would be Washington's refusal to cooperate with Russia on Syria's settlement - Zakharova


TASS
Fri, 30 Sep 2016 10:01 UTC
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova
© Alexander Scherbak/TASS
According to US Secretary of State John Kerry, the US is on the brink of calling off the talks with Russia on the efforts to implement a ceasefire agreement in Syria.


Comment: Kerry: US standing on verge of calling off talks with Russia on Syria


Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on her page in Facebook on Thursday that Washington would make a great gift to terrorists if it carried out its threats to end interaction with Russia on Syria.

"US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power has described the actions of Syrian and Russian forces in Syria as a 'gift' to the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist groups (both outlawed in Russia)," Zakharova recalling what Power had told journalists at a news conference held at the United Nations.

Comment: See also: Zakharova slams US State Department for threat to 'send Russians home in body bags'

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Attention

Erdogan reviving expansionist vision? Targets Greek islands, says "we gave away the islands that you could shout across to"

Alex Christoforou
The Duran
Thu, 29 Sep 2016 02:37 UTC
Greece Turkey Tsipris Erdogan
Alexander Tsipris and Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Erdogan openly expressed his regret for the border decisions stipulated in the Treaty of Lausanne.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is exhuming some very uncomfortable and painful ghosts from Greece's past sufferings under the Ottoman empire.

We are all well aware that Erdogan says a lot of ridiculous things, but his latest comments that reference the Dodecanese Islands, and the Treaty of Lausanne, should warrant concern for an EU weakened and hollowed out Greek state.

In a speech to regional officials in Ankara, Erdogan openly expressed his regret for the border decisions stipulated in the Treaty of Lausanne.

Erdogan lamented, and issued this veiled warning towards Greece...
"Some tried to deceive us by presenting Lausanne as victory."

"In Lausanne, we gave away the islands that you could shout across to."
The Treaty of Lausanne delimited the boundaries of Greece, Bulgaria, and Turkey. It formally ceded all Turkish claims on the Dodecanese Islands, Cyprus, Egypt and Sudan, Syria and Iraq, and (along with the Treaty of Ankara) settled the boundaries of the latter two nations.

Turkey already illegally occupies 37% of Cyprus, and is currently embroiled in a jihadist invasion to topple Syria.
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