Puppet MastersS


Bullseye

Any chance Israel will be put on trial for war crimes?

Bombing GAZA
© 99getsmart.comIsrael's ongoing war on Gaza, the macro.
An expected visit by ICC delegation could increase the risk of Israeli officials being tried for war crimes. Israel has agreed to allow the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague to send a delegation to Israel and the occupied territories, it was revealed at the weekend, in a step that could dramatically increase the risk of Israeli officials being tried for war crimes.

Emmanuel Nahshon, a foreign ministry spokesman, confirmed to Al Jazeera on Sunday that Israel had agreed to the visit in principle, though the "when and how" were still under discussion. The ICC's move comes as human rights groups have harshly criticised Israel for closing investigations into dozens of allegations that its military broke the laws of war during an attack on Gaza in the summer of 2014. The Hague prosecutors are reportedly interested in examining how effective Israel's legal mechanisms are in investigating allegations of war crimes.

Under the terms of its founding statute, the ICC could take over jurisdiction of such probes if it is persuaded that Israel is unable or unwilling to conduct credible investigations itself. So far, only three Israeli soldiers have been indicted on a relatively minor charge - of looting - even though Israel's 51-day offensive, named Protective Edge, in July and August 2014 resulted in some 2,250 Palestinian deaths. The vast majority were civilians, including 551 children.
boy dead on beach
© rinf.comOne of four boys playing football targeted by Israeli gunfire.

Comment: Israel must think it has some sort of infallible wiggle-room immunity to ever agree to a sit down with the ICC. International justice dealt in even ONE case would be an improvement.


Boat

Philippines suspects China will attempt reclamation of Scarborough Shoal, S. China Sea

Scarborough shoal
© wikipedia.orgScarborough Shoal, S. China Sea
The Philippines is "gravely concerned" that China might be planning to build an artificial island on Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea, as Beijing has decided to disregard the recent international court decision that barred China from the area. The ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration on July 12 said that no one country had sovereign rights over activity in the Scarborough Shoal, after The Hague court ruled against China in the maritime dispute.

China refused to recognize the ruling and over the last few days have [has] been increasing their [its] presence over the shoal that is just of few rocks poking above the sea. "The presence of so many ships, other than coast guard in the area is cause for grave concern," Philippines Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said Sunday after his country's air force plane allegedly detected four Chinese coast guard ships, two barge-like vessels and two suspected troop ships near the shoal Saturday.

The minister noted that earlier this year the Chinese tried to bring in dredging barges to turn Scarborough into an artificial island. That attempt, Lorenzana said, was dissuaded by the United States. "If they try to construct anything in Scarborough it will have far reaching adverse effect on the security situation," he added, pointing out that Manila summoned the Chinese ambassador for an explanation.

Comment: The UN Convention of the Law of the Sea normally stipulates a 200 nautical mile zone of the coast for economic exclusivity. But China claims 90% of the area, a much larger zone. Did the decision bar China from the area? What was the ruling in the South China Sea case?

The Hague tribunal (U.S.-initiated and unfairly slanted against China) overwhelmingly backed the Philippines in a case on the disputed waters of the South China Sea, ruling that rocky outcrops claimed by China - some of which are exposed only at low tide - cannot be used as the basis of territorial claims. It said some of the waters were "within the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines, because those areas are not overlapped by any possible entitlement of China". The tribunal furthermore found China had violated the Philippines' sovereign rights in those waters by interfering with its fishing and petroleum exploration and by constructing artificial islands.

One foremost issue is the detrimental environmental consequences of a) building artificial islands and b) the obvious risks involved in tapping subsea oil reserves, one of two reasons China is pushing for control. If claimed by China, military presence will theoretically extend China's 'border' and be perceived as an aggressive territorial threat. From China's perspective, like Crimea to Russia, the SCS represents an essential sea passage. If the U.S. were to control it (through vassals in Asia), Chinese movement would be crippled.


Chess

Why Russia is what it is, does what it does

Red square
© www.bbc.comRed Square, Moscow, Russia
In February 1946, George Kennan sent back from Moscow the "Long Telegram," an analysis of the sources of Soviet foreign policy, which came to serve as the intellectual foundation of the containment policy the United States pursued during the Cold War. The telegram landed in the midst of a reassessment of American Soviet policy as the hopes born of the grand alliance against Hitler's Germany that the allies would continue to cooperate in peacetime crashed against the harsh reality of Soviet suspicion and hostility.

As John Gaddis notes in his biography of Kennan, his telegram did not bring about a shift in U.S. policy but it crystallized the thinking of senior administration officials. "It was," Gaddis writes, "the geopolitical equivalent of a medical X-ray, penetrating beneath alarming symptoms to yield at first clarity, then comprehension, and finally by implication a course of treatment."

Today, we need a similar analysis, for we find ourselves at a similar juncture. Two years ago, Russia's annexation of Crimea and destabilization of eastern Ukraine irreversibly dashed all the assumptions that had guided America's Russia policy since the demise of the Soviet Union a generation ago. No longer is it possible to maintain that Russia is being integrated, albeit slowly and fitfully, into the West and, for that reason, is a suitable partner for addressing global issues. Moreover, Russia itself is no longer interested in integration, if it ever was. Rather, it presents itself as a unique construct, intent on challenging the U.S.-led world order across a broad front, including hard geopolitical matters like Ukraine, as well as the values that animate Western society.

Comment: Only by multipolar counterbalancing will Russia and its allies thwart the West from its march to US-led world order, a unipolar construct (death spiral) benefitting the few at the expense of the many.


Play

South Front: Syrian Army regains ground from terrorists in Aleppo, restores siege on east Aleppo (VIDEO)

south front
Syrian War Report - September 5, 2016: Syria Army Restores Siege of Aleppo City


Comment: See also: Turkey claims over 60 miles of Turkish-Syrian border retaken from Daesh. RT reports on the reestablishment of the east Aleppo siege:
RT's Lizzie Phelan talked to the soldiers who've been taking the city back, stone by stone. "Sheikh Said neighborhood is the main gate to East Aleppo that is under the control of terrorists," a soldier told RT. The army, backed by aerial and artillery attacks, managed to recapture the strategic complex comprising of three military academies in the Ramosa district, on Aleppo's southwestern outskirts, on Sunday. The battle was a tough one, the soldiers said. "[The militants] were using TOW, 22mm anti-air craft guns, mortars, rocket launchers, tanks and hell canons," another soldier said.

The complex had been held by rebels - mainly consisting of Jaish Al-Fateh militants, previously known as Al-Nusra Front - since early August, when they broke through the pro-government army lines. Over the past few weeks, the army has engage in heavy fighting to retake the area, as it held the key to Aleppo's east. By retaking the academies, the army has technically cut the militants' supply route. "Now, [the militants'] supply route has been cut off by the Syrian Army, we now have control over the colleges and established a base in the cement factory nearby," a serviceman said.

The siege was also re-imposed on the city's opposition-held sector where the militants are still holding ground. Pro-government forces in Aleppo now control both routes coming in to the city from the north and from the south.
Al-Nusra's leader isn't happy:




Wine n Glass

'4-million-strong petition' cited by British MPs to force parliamentary debate about 2nd Brexit referendum

March for Europe
© Luke MacGregor / ReutersPro-Europe demonstrators protest during a "March for Europe" against the Brexit vote result earlier in the year, in London, Britain, September 3, 2016.
MPs will debate calls for a second referendum on EU membership after a petition calling for a rerun of the vote amassed more than 4 million signatures—more than any other e-petition in the last five years.

The document calls on the government to hold a re-vote, citing the Leave campaign's failure to win more than 60 percent of the ballots and noting that turnout was below 75 percent.

Parliament is obliged to debate any petition that garners more than 100,000 signatures.

The e-petition was launched in May, before the June 23 referendum, ironically by a Leave supporter who was worried Britons would vote to Remain by a narrow margin and low turnout.

Comment: It's been quite a summer of back-pedalling!

The reason it never made any sense for the British elite to have held this referendum in the first place is because 'Brexit' was meant to be a bluff to 'give Germany and France something to think about'.

The idiots-in-charge underestimated the strength of anti-EU/Europe feeling in the (mainly English) population (which their right-wing media has been stoking since forever). They probably did anticipate that a majority of voters would vote 'Leave', but failed to rig the vote sufficiently and swing the result over to 'Remain'.

That's why Cameron resigned; he had so much egg on his face.

In any event, as we see above, that same elite is now working to either 'have another vote', indefinitely protract the implementation of 'Brexit', or simply never enact it.

See also: Pro-EU demonstrations held across UK


Info

Trust and cooperation: Putin says Russia staying out of South China Sea dispute, wants Japan's trust in Kuril islands

South China Sea island
© AP Photo/Johnson Lai
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Russia is not interfering in an island dispute in South China Sea but supports the stance of China, which has refused to recognize the decision of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague.

"We have our own opinion regarding this: first of all, we are staying away because we believe that interference of any non-regional power in the dispute will be bad for the settlement of this problem," the Russian president told a news conference devoted the G20 decisions.


At the same time, Putin expressed solidarity with China.

"We are solidarizing with and supporting China's stance on the problem - the non-recognition of the court ruling (the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague".

Comment: Reclaiming the Pacific: Russia plans naval base alongside state-of-the-art missile systems on Kuril Islands


Info

Putin not surprised by Turkish military operation in Syria, ties being restored

Turkish Tanks
© Ismail Coskun, IHA via AP
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that the Turkish military operation in Syria was no surprise to Russia.

"As for surprises, we have the foreign ministries and special services working to this end, so that we could have less surprises," the Russian president said at a news conference after the Group of Twenty (G20) summit. According to him, Moscow "understood what was going on, where the things were coming - as the movement and objective are visible.

"The problems Turkey was facing over the Syrian events were also visible," the Russian leader said.

"We see all this very well and generally speaking, this comes as no surprise to us," Putin said.

Evil Rays

Philippines prez Duterte tells "SOB" Obama to mind his own business re: drug war

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and U.S. President Barack Obama
© Lean Daval Jr / Jonathan Ernst / Reuters
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte warned President Barack Obama on Monday not to question him about extrajudicial killings, or "son of a bitch I will swear at you" when they meet in Laos during a regional summit.

Duterte said before flying to Laos that he is a leader of a sovereign country and is answerable only to the Filipino people. He was answering a reporter's question about how he intends to explain the extrajudicial killings to Obama. More than 2,000 suspected drug pushers and users have been killed since Duterte launched a war on drugs after taking office on June 30.

In his typical foul-mouthed style, Duterte responded: "I am a president of a sovereign state and we have long ceased to be a colony. I do not have any master except the Filipino people, nobody but nobody. You must be respectful. Do not just throw questions. Putang ina I will swear at you in that forum," he said, using the Tagalog phrase for son of a bitch.

Duterte has earlier cursed the pope and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Comment: Duterte may be 'foul-mouthed', but a foul-mouthed man who speaks the truth is still better than a mealy-mouthed, 'politically correct' salesman who covers over truth with nice-sounding lies. Just look at what Obama says above about the drug trade, as if he is completely unaware that the CIA basically runs it! We would be very interested in hearing the context Duterte mentions spelled out in detail. Deaths like those being reported on in the Philippines are not a new phenomenon - they were happening before Duterte even became president. So what's the real story here?


Dollars

Greece won't get EU rescue loans after breaking reform promise

Greece
© Yannis Behrakis / Reuters
The European Union will not release a new bailout tranche to Greece in September, according to EU diplomats cited by the German daily Handelsblatt Global.

Athens has reportedly managed to implement only two out of 15 reforms previously agreed with its international creditors. Moreover, the country has slowed down the privatization process of its public assets.

Under the terms of the bailout deal signed in 2015, the international lenders including the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the eurozone were to provide €86 billion in aid by 2018 in return for ultra-unpopular austerity measures in the country.

Comment: See also: Pirates of the Aegean: Who profited from the $440 billion Greek bailout? Not the Greeks


Bad Guys

Oops! American-made Tajik special ops soldier now top Daesh commander in Iraq

Gulmurod Khalimov
© Sputnik
Former Tajikistan Special Forces colonel Gulmurod Khalimov becomes the top Daesh (ISIS) battlefield commander in Iraq after defecting last year and swearing jihad against the West.

Daesh forces in Iraq welcome a new battlefield commander to their ranks who is all too familiar to US military and intelligence officials - American trained former Special Forces colonel Gulmurod Khalimov from Tajikstan received the promotion within the terrorist organization after defecting last year.

Comment: Let's be clear here (because the State Dept won't be): the guy was probably recruited in the hope that he would 'defect'.

What a strange term to use, 'defect'. If one fights under the banner of 'Islamic terror', one has apparently 'defected' from America/The West to 'the other side'.

So what does that make Russia?!

See also: Made in America: State Dept. offers $3 million for Daesh leader trained in US