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Yemen's new legitimate government ready to accept Saudi surrender

b
Moon of Alabama
Mon, 15 Aug 2016 14:45 UTC
Yemen saudi airstrikes Saleh
Former Yemen president Ali Abdullah Saleh addresses the nation from the ruins of his home in Sana'a after a Saudi airstrike in May 2015
Day by day the life in Yemen becomes more difficult for the people on the ground. The Saudis have restarted bombing and seemingly hit everything in sight - schools, hospitals and food supply routes. Food is running out. But Yemen now has a new legitimate government. And the Saudis will have to either follow the conditions it will set, or all-out lose their war.

UN supervised negotiations between the former Yemeni president Hadi, supported by the armed forces of various Gulf countries, and a the Houthi alliance with the former president Saleh have failed. The Saudis demanded total surrender. A retreat of the Houthi from the capital Sanaa, a complete re-installment of Hadi as president and a handing over of all heavy weapons. The Houthi/Saleh side would never have agreed to such conditions. It would leave them without assets at the mercy of a vengeful enemy. The fighting on the ground continued throughout the four-month negotiations though at a lower intensity.

When the failure of the negotiations was obviously imminent, Houthi and Yemeni army forces re-invaded Saudi Arabia. For 200 km of the Saudi-Yemeni border from the Red Sea to inland eastwards Yemeni forces initially invaded at 6 locations 5-20km deep. Video showed them in sight of the Saudi city Narjan, with half a million inhabitants, shelling the electricity station and military barracks. Laughably a joint statement from the governments of the UK, USA, Saudi Arabia and UAE demanded that:
the conflict in Yemen should not threaten Yemen's neighbours.
A joke. A Saudi invasion of Yemen is fine with them, to respond in kind is not?

The Saudis renewed their air attacks on the capitol Sanaa and other Yemeni cities. Military targets in Sanaa had already been bombed at least twice. The current attacks make no sense and are a pure terror campaign.
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Eye 2

What Minsk agreement? Drone footage catches Donbass destruction as civilian casualties continue to rise


RT
Wed, 17 Aug 2016 15:06 UTC
Donbas destruction
© Sergey Averin / Sputnik
Two years on from the outbreak of the conflict in eastern Ukraine, dozens of civilians, including children, continue to suffer injuries and die in Donbass. This July, the civilian death toll in eastern Ukraine hit a record high for a single month since the same time last year, international monitors say.

While many believe hostilities in eastern Ukraine are over and a ceasefire between rebels and government forces is more or less respected - which is to a certain extent true - casualties among civilians continue to rise across Donbass.

In late July, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in its latest report that 73 conflict-related civilian casualties, including eight fatalities and 65 injuries, took place in just July, while, in June, 12 people were killed and 57 more injured.
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Vader

Obama administration opposing Assad at all costs has led to awkward situation of supporting al-Qaeda in Aleppo


Sputnik
Sun, 14 Aug 2016 15:05 UTC
aleppo destruction
© AP Photo/ Manu Brabo, FileAleppo destruction by US-backed terrorists
The Obama administration's policy in Syria of opposing Assad at all costs has led the United States to make strange bedfellows arming non-Jihadist Salafist groups who are unfortunately led by a cadre of fighters from the former al-Qaeda affiliate al-Nusra Front.

This week Republican nominee Donald Trump caused an uproar by insisting that his Democratic rival former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her former boss President Barack Obama "founded ISIS" - a charge that led to an counter assault by Hillary surrogate Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) on Sunday who levelled a mirror accusation against Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

While a Pentagon memo supports the allegation that in 2012 the United States was willingly aiding al-Qaeda in Iraq and the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) that subsequently metastasized into Daesh, the more immediate conflict of interest in Washington's foreign policy in the Middle East is the support of the current so-called "moderate rebels" opposing Assad who, by their own admission on social media, are led by al-Nusra Front.

Al-Nusra Front, who just changed their name to the Syrian Conquest Front and renounced affiliation with al-Qaeda, with the open acceptance of the terror network, in a bid to garner new support from the West were the leading force in the surprise bid to break the Syrian government's siege in Aleppo.
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Handcuffs

FBI sends Clinton investigation docs to Congress as Republicans seek perjury charges


RT
Wed, 17 Aug 2016 14:56 UTC
Hillary Clinton
© Jonathan Ernst / Reuters
The FBI has reportedly dispatched its investigative report on Hillary Clinton, explaining why charges were not recommended against the Democratic presidential hopeful. Meanwhile, House Republicans are seeking new perjury charges against Clinton.

Unnamed officials have told reporters that a number of classified documents have been handed over to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

"The FBI has turned over a 'number of documents' related to their investigation of former Secretary Clinton's use of a personal email server. Committee staff is currently reviewing the information that is classified SECRET. There are no further details at this time," a committee spokesperson said, as cited by the Washington Post.

The report allegedly contains notes from the interviews of Clinton and other witnesses in the investigation, CNN also reported, saying that FBI agents' memos would also be provided along with the investigative material.


Comment: The documents are probably heavily redacted.


Comment: Will the Judiciary Committee wait until after the November elections to pursue this case?

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Jet2

Russian bombers eliminate at least 150 terrorists near Deir-ez-Zor using Iranian airbase (Video)


RT
Wed, 17 Aug 2016 14:58 UTC
Russian Su-34 bomber
© Ministry of defence of the Russian Federation / SputnikRussian Su-34 bomber
Russian Su-34 tactical bombers have delivered airstrikes in Syria on Wednesday for a second day in a row, taking off from Hamadan Airbase in western Iran. The assault eliminated at least 150 extremists in Syria's Deir-ez-Zor province, the MoD reports.

A deployment of Sukhoi Su-34 (NATO reporting name Fullback) strike fighters with full bomb payloads attacked and destroyed installations of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) in the neighborhood of the city Deir-ez-Zor.

They were covered by Su-35s fighter jets which took off from Russia's Khmeimim Airbase in Syria. The warplanes used fragmentation demolition OFAB-500 air bombs to eliminate two command posts and two large terrorist field training camps.

"Over 150 militants have been eliminated, among them foreign mercenaries," the ministry said in a press statement.

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Light Sabers

Leaked reports reveals Germany sees Turkey as central hub for supporting terrorism in Middle East


RT
Wed, 17 Aug 2016 14:52 UTC
Hamas militants
© Ibraheem Abu Mustafa / ReutersHamas militants
German security officials see Turkey as a "central platform" supporting extremist and terrorist organizations in the Middle East, according to a TV report which cited a leaked internal document that accused Ankara of breeding radical Islamism in the region.

On Tuesday, German broadcaster ARD published part of a confidential document allegedly written by the Interior Ministry, which accused the Turkish president of supporting EU- and US-recognized terrorist groups based on ideological affinity.

"The many expressions of solidarity and support actions by the ruling AKP and President Erdogan for the Egyptian MB (Muslim Brotherhood), Hamas and groups of armed Islamist opposition in Syria emphasize their ideological affinity with the (broader) Muslim Brotherhood," ARD cited the government report as saying.

Furthermore, the leaked report said that Turkey, for years, engaged in a policy of deliberately financing Islamist and terrorist organizations with the direct consent of Erdogan.
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Handcuffs

Polishing the legacy: 15 Gitmo prisoners transferred in largest Obama-era release


RT
Tue, 16 Aug 2016 23:14 UTC
Gitmo prisoners Obama
© Bob Strong / Reuters
Only 61 captives remain in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, following the largest single transfer out of the notorious facility under the Obama administration.

Fifteen men were sent to the United Arab Emirates on Monday, the Guardian reported, citing an anonymous Obama administration official ahead of the formal announcement from the Pentagon. The Emirates have accepted former inmates of the facility in the past.

Though President Barack Obama vowed to close down the infamous camp, established by the Bush administration in 2002, he has been unable to do so, due to opposition from Congress and the military. Instead, he has pushed to transfer out detainees cleared for release by the federal Periodic Review Board.

Previously, the largest single release involved 12 people in December 2009.

When it opened in 2002, Guantanamo had 779 prisoners. As of today, 693 of them have either been released or transferred to another country.

Transferring prisoners in larger numbers is something the Obama administration started doing just recently, as the term of America's 44th president comes to a close.
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Attention

Austria will consider state of emergency decree regarding refugee crisis


RT
Mon, 15 Aug 2016 18:13 UTC
Asylum seekers Hungary
© Leonhard Foeger / ReutersMigrants entering Austria
A state of emergency decree allowing Austrian authorities to take stricter measures against asylum seekers could be reviewed by the government as early as September, Chancellor Christian Kern has said.Adoption of the decree depends on the outcome of the negotiations between Austria and Hungary scheduled for early September which will focus on the issue of readmission of refugees and migrants, Kern said in an interview with the Austrian APA news agency.

"Early September, talks between Austria and Hungary at the level of the interior and defense ministers will take place," Kern told APA, adding that the talks should create the "preconditions for implementing the [state of emergency] decree and sending people back to Hungary." Kern added that the decree could be successfully implemented only if similar agreements on readmission are negotiated with Italy and Slovenia.

The draft was prepared by the Austrian Interior Ministry on August 12. If implemented, it would allow Austrian authorities to turn refugees and migrants away directly at the border. Any who entered Austria illegally could be detained and placed in custody even if they had already submitted an asylum request.

The decree sees "a threat to the maintaining of public order and internal security" as a precondition of imposing this state of emergency. Although the text of the decree has not yet been published by the Interior Ministry, Austrian media report that the "polarization of society" and "influence of the refugee and migrant issues on the public peace" could be considered as threats to public security under the ruling.

Comment: Do we see that the clash of religious and societal ideologies is just part of the bigger plan to destabilize the world, eliminate populations and bring it under one central locked-down control? Moving non-similar groups of people together fragments people's strengths and divides communities stressing the ability to cope. Differences have no time to able to sift out and come together. The forced actions from the horrors of unnecessary wars, the displacing millions of families, the anger, frustration, sorrow that accompanies these manipulations have created precisely the calculated and desired effect of the PTB for the EU.

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Briefcase

US government is being sued over aid to 'nuclear' Israel


RT
Tue, 16 Aug 2016 01:00 UTC
US Israel yin yang
© www.canstockphoto.com
A Washington DC non-profit group is suing the US government challenging its authority to provide Israel with foreign aid, arguing that its status - a nuclear power which didn't sign the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty - means that aiding it contravenes US law.

"This lawsuit is not about foreign policy. It is about the rule of law, presidential power, the structural limits of the U.S. Constitution, and the right of the public to understand the functions of government and informed petition of the government for redress," stated the complaint filed By Grant F. Smith, Director of the Institute for Research: Middle East Policy (IRmep).

The lawsuit filed last week in DC federal district court names President Barack Obama, the CIA director and secretaries of Commerce, Defense, Energy, State and Treasury as defendants.

The complaint challenges the authority of the president and federal agencies to deliver foreign aid to Israel, as it is non-signatory to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) with a nuclear weapons programs.

The lawsuit argues in the mid-1970s during investigations into illegal diversion of weapon-grade uranium from a US contractor NUMEC to Israel, Senators Stuart Symington and John Glenn amended the 1961 Foreign Assistance Act to ban any aid to clandestine nuclear powers that were not NPT signatories. "If you wish to take dangerous and costly steps to achieve a nuclear weapons option, you cannot expect the United States to help underwrite that effort indirectly or directly," said Senator Symington at the time.


Comment: See also:

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Info

Knocking on Putin's door: President of Central African Republic hopes to boost ties with Russia


Sputnik
Wed, 17 Aug 2016 14:14 UTC
Bangui shopping district
© Wikipedia
President Faustin Archange Touadera told Sputnik in an exclusive interview that the Central African Republic and Russia have a great potential for stepping up partnership.

The Central African Republic (CAR) and Russia have a history of strong cultural ties which they need to restore, CAR President Faustin Archange Touadera told Sputnik in an interview.

"We have very good relations with Russia," Touadera said. "But we'd like our relationship to become more robust to increase cooperation because we used to have very good cultural ties in the past in terms of educating students and teachers. So I think there is room for improved cooperation."
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