Puppet MastersS


Airplane

JIT report: Why the MH17 case is still open

Alexander Mercouris
The Duran
Thu, 29 Sep 2016 17:35 UTC
jit mh17
A disregard of Russian technical evidence, a failure to produce US evidence, and a heavy reliance on social media, video, radio intercept, and eye-witness evidence originating from Ukraine, leaves the case open.

As widely anticipated the so-called Joint Investigation Team (JIT) investigating the circumstances of the shooting down of MH17 delivered a preliminary report on Wednesday 28th September 2016 which said that MH17 was shot down by the east Ukrainian militia from a location near the town of Snezhnoe with a BUK missile supposedly smuggled to them from Russia.

This theory has been in circulation since almost immediately after MH17 was shot down. It relies heavily on social media reports and videos of a BUK missile launcher supposedly being moved around eastern Ukraine. Some of this evidence is also backed by claims by eye-witnesses, and radio intercepts.

The first point to make about the investigation that published these findings on Wednesday is that its instigator is Ukraine.

Comment: See also:

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Heart

Humanitarian aid from Russia saves Syrian children in Homs

Translated by J. Arnoldski
Fort Russ / RusVesna
Thu, 29 Sep 2016 17:41 UTC
russia aid
In the village of Jamilia in Homs province, representatives of the Russian Center for the Reconciliation of Warring Sides carried out a humanitarian aid action.

The "Aid to Syria from Russia" humanitarian column continues to provide those in need with needed food packets.
russia aid
Local residents met the convoy of Russian aid with enthusiasm. The event was even attended by Syrian television representatives. Children prepared a special performance to greet the action.

The officers engaged in the organization of humanitarian aid immediately found themselves surrounded by children from the village. The unloading and distribution process was met with joy and delight from the children, who did not want to let the Russian officers leave.

Over the course of the day, food kits were provided to 400 people.

Comment: This is quite a different scene than that described by evil Samantha Power, who calls Russian actions towards Syrians "barbarism."

Yes Samantha, providing food and supplies to children struggling to survive because of the evil imperialistic actions of the US in Syria is probably quite barbaric, from a psychopath's perspective.

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Bomb

We have information on involvement of Jabhat al-Nusra linked group in shelling Aleppo aid convoy - Moscow

R. Milhem/Manar/Manal/H. Said
Syrian Arab News Agency
Thu, 29 Sep 2016 19:32 UTC
Russian Defense Ministry
Russian Defense Ministry
Russian Defense Ministry affirms that it has information prove the existence of US military experts who are planning and leading the militants' operations in Syria secretly, especially in Aleppo.

The Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said that Russia knows well where and how the US military secret experts are involved in planning the armed operations in Syria, including in Aleppo.

He pointed out that Washington admits that the "opposition" in Syria is a US-controlled terrorist group.

Konashenkov said the Russian Defense Ministry is ready for dialogue with the United States on Syria to take joint measures in fighting terrorism, stressing at the same time that dialogue should exclude any hint about threats to Russian citizens or troops, considering security of Russian citizens wherever they are a major and absolute priority.

Moscow: We have information on involvement of Jabhat al-Nusra-linked group in shelling Aleppo aid convoy.
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Airplane

The JIT MH17 report: Troubling gaps, vague evidence

Robert Parry
Consortium News
Wed, 28 Sep 2016 17:05 UTC
buk system
A photograph of a Russian BUK missile system that U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt published on Twitter in support of a claim about Russia placing BUK missiles in eastern Ukraine, except that the image appears to be an AP photo taken at an air show near Moscow two years earlier.
The new accusation of Russian complicity in 2014 Malaysia Airlines shootdown was based on Ukrainian intelligence intercepts that were selectively interpreted while contrary information was ignored, writes Robert Parry.

The key conclusion of the Dutch-led criminal inquiry implicating Russia in the 2014 shootdown of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 relied heavily on cryptic telephone intercepts that were supplied by the Ukrainian intelligence service and were given incriminating meaning not clearly supported by the words.

The investigators also seemed to ignore other intercepts that conflicted with their conclusions, including one conversation that appeared to be referring to a Ukrainian convoy, not one commanded by ethnic Russian rebels, that was closing in on the Luhansk airport, placing Ukrainian troops deep inside rebel territory.

That conversation was among five that the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) released in seeking the public's help in identifying persons of interest in the MH-17 shootdown. The callers seemed to be discussing information from Moscow regarding the movement of a convoy, but they describe it as a "Ukrops" or Ukrainian troop convoy.

Comment: See also: SOTT News Snapshot: The new JIT MH17 report is in - rebels did it, case closed, don't ask any questions

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Stock Down

8 years after US banking collapse, implosion of Deutsche Bank is poised to decimate the global economy

Jay Syrmopoulos
The Free Thought Project
Thu, 29 Sep 2016 17:16 UTC
deutsche bank
© Reuters
The most prominent bank in Germany is at risk of failure, with potentially profound effects for the EU, the United States and likely the rest of the world.

Deutsche Bank shares have fallen sharply on the news that German Chancellor Angela Merkel won't bail-out the struggling bank, with shares falling by as much as six percent in early Monday trading, making it the worst performance since 1992. Since January, the bank's shares have lost over 52 percent of their value.

Merkel also refused to provide financial assistance to Deutsche Bank in its legal battle with the U.S. Department of Justice. The chancellor made her position clear during talks with Deutsche CEO John Cryan, according to Focus magazine. The German-based lender may be fined up to $14 billion over its mortgage-backed securities business before the 2008 global crisis.

The German Chancellor also noted that Deutsche Bank will not be getting a bailout from the European Central Bank - the lender of last resort for European banks.

So could Germany be considering a bail-in instead of a bailout?

According to Investopedia:
A bail-in is rescuing a financial institution on the brink of failure by making its creditors and depositors take a loss on their holdings. A bail-in is the opposite of a bail-out, which involves the rescue of a financial institution by external parties, typically governments using taxpayers money. Typically, bail-outs have been far more common than bail-ins, but in recent years after massive bail-outs some governements now require the investors and depositors in the bank to take a loss before taxpayers.
So the question becomes; are millions of Germans about to see their savings stolen by the government to prop up Deutsche Bank?
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Bad Guys

UN report: U.S. and EU sanctions are punishing ordinary Syrians, crippling efforts to deliver aid

Rania Khalek
The Intercept
Wed, 28 Sep 2016 00:00 UTC
syrian red crescent, humanitarian aid syria
A Syrian Red Crescent truck, part of a convoy carrying humanitarian aid, is seen in Kafr Batna on the outskirts of Damascus on Feb. 23, 2016, during an operation in cooperation with the U.N. to deliver aid to thousands of besieged Syrians.
Internal United Nations assessments obtained by The Intercept reveal that U.S. and European sanctions are punishing ordinary Syrians and crippling aid work during the largest humanitarian emergency since World War II.

The sanctions and war have destabilized every sector of Syria's economy, transforming a once self-sufficient country into an aid-dependent nation. But aid is hard to come by, with sanctions blocking access to blood safety equipment, medicines, medical devices, food, fuel, water pumps, spare parts for power plants, and more.

In a 40-page internal assessment commissioned to analyze the humanitarian impact of the sanctions, the U.N. describes the U.S. and EU measures as "some of the most complicated and far-reaching sanctions regimes ever imposed." Detailing a complex system of "unpredictable and time-consuming" financial restrictions and licensing requirements, the report finds that U.S. sanctions are exceptionally harsh "regarding provision of humanitarian aid."

Comment: Fortunately for the Syrians, Russia and the Syrian government do have a conscience and have been instrumental in delivering aid to the country:

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Bad Guys

Best of the Web: US condemnation against phantom Syria and Russian "humanitarian crimes" - prelude to NATO-style invasion?

Finian Cunningham
Strategic Culture Foundation
Wed, 28 Sep 2016 16:28 UTC
syria soldier
© pbs.org
The crescendo of US-led condemnations against Syria and Russia over alleged humanitarian crimes in Syria grows louder by the day. The eerie sense is that this «outcry» is being orchestrated as a prelude to a NATO-style intervention in Syria.

Such a NATO maneuver would follow the template for former Yugoslavia and Libya, leading to greater civilian deaths, territorial disintegration, a surge in regional terrorism and more international lawlessness by Western states.

The concerted, emotive appeals over the past week - bordering on hysteria - indicate a propaganda campaign coordinated between Washington and its Western allies, the mass media and the US-led NATO military alliance.

It was US ambassador the United Nations Samantha Power who led the chorus of accusations against Russia and its Syrian ally, using the Security Council emergency meeting last weekend to condemn «barbarism» of renewed violence around the northern Syrian city of Aleppo. Britain and France piled in with more unsubstantiated condemnations of war crimes, as did shameless UN officials, Ban Ki-Moon, the secretary general, and Staffan de Mistura, the UN's special envoy to Syria.


Comment: Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova swiftly rebuked Samantha Power for her "barbarism" comments at the UN:

Few people would countenance war, but surely Syria has the sovereign right to defend its nation from a foreign-fueled war on its territory. In all the lachrymose lecturing from the likes of Samantha Power, the pertinent question of who started this war in the first place gets lost in rhetorical fog.
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X

Russia says it will work with the U.S., but not if it keeps hinting about threatening Russians with violence


RT
Thu, 29 Sep 2016 15:57 UTC
russian jet
© Dmitriy Vinogradov / Sputnik
Russia is fully ready to continue the dialogue with the US regarding joint actions to combat terrorists in Syria, the Russian Ministry of Defense has said. It stressed, however, that this is only possible if Washington abstains from "any hints of threats to Russia's military and citizens."

The statement came in response to comments made by US State Department spokesperson John Kirby at a press briefing on Wednesday. Kirby said that if the war in Syria continues, "more Russian lives will be lost, more Russian aircraft will be shot down" as"extremist groups will continue to exploit the vacuums that are there in Syria to expand their operations, which could include attacks against Russian interests, perhaps even Russian cities."

Speaking on Thursday, Russian Ministry of Defense spokesman Major-General Igor Konashenkov said: "Once again we declare that we are fully prepared to continue the dialogue with the American side and carry on with the joint actions to combat terrorists in Syria."

"However, even the slightest hints of a threat to our soldiers and Russian citizens must be excluded from this dialogue. The matter of safety of Russian citizens, wherever they may be, is not up for bargaining. It is our main and unconditional priority," the spokesman stressed.

Comment: Ryabkov also responded to Kirby's threats:
We cannot interpret this as anything else apart from the current U.S. administration's de facto support for terrorism," Ryabkov was quoted as saying. These thinly disguised invitations to use terrorism as a weapon against Russia show the political depths the current U.S. administration has stooped to in its approach to the Middle East and specifically to Syria.
So did Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Konstantin Kosachev:
Remarks by John Kirby by definition cannot be regarded as a bad figure of speech or unconsidered impromptu. This expression of either care or threat of the US State Department anyway sounds rather strange. And knowing the procedure of preparing official comments of official spokespersons, I can say that it was a well (or badly) planned provocation.
They're right:

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Propaganda

Israeli journals report Iran commander claims Tehran has missile capable of striking Israel


Sputnik
Thu, 29 Sep 2016 16:09 UTC
Iran ballistic missle launch
© REUTERS/ Mahmood Hosseini
As Iran beefs up its military hardware, an Iranian commander has claimed Tehran is in possession of a missile capable of striking Israel.

Last week, the Iranian military conducted a parade through the capital of Tehran, displaying a wide variety of tanks, warplanes, and missiles. According to Brigadier General Amirali Hajizadeh, commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps' Aerospace Division, one of those missiles is capable of striking Israel, roughly 764 miles away.

"The Zionist regime is our biggest target," he said, according to the Jerusalem Post.

"We do not need missiles with a range of over 2,000 kilometers. The longest range required for [Iran's] missiles is the [Israeli] occupied lands."

Comment: Consider the source of these claims, all from Israel.

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Dig

China unveils plans to build world's largest high-speed railway station directly underneath Great Wall of China


RT
Thu, 29 Sep 2016 16:02 UTC
great wall china
© Benoit Tessier / ReutersA section of the Great Wall of China is pictured at Simatai, located in the outskirts of Beijing, China
China has unveiled plans to build the world's deepest and largest high-speed railway station as part of its preparations for hosting the 2022 Winter Olympics.

The station will be built directly underneath Badaling - the most-visited section of the Great Wall of China, which attracts tens of thousands of visitors a day, Chinese media reported.

The station will have separate floors for arrivals and departures and will in a way resemble an airport, China Daily reports. It will be the size of five soccer fields.

"The Badaling station will be located 102 meters (335ft) below the surface, with an underground construction area of 36,000 sq meters (387,501 sq ft), equal to five standard soccer fields, making it the deepest and largest high-speed railway station in the world," Chen Bin, the director in charge of construction for the China Railway No 5 Engineering Group, told the People's Daily newspaper.
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