Puppet MastersS


Bomb

Russia's UN rep rightly accuses Kiev of sabotage and terrorism


RT
Fri, 12 Aug 2016 18:14 UTC
TNT blocks
© Public relations center of Federal Security Service / SputnikTNT blocks, makeshift bombs and grenades found during detention of Ukrainian saboteurs detained by the Russian Federal Security Service in Crimea.
Russian UN representative Vitaly Churkin has said "there is chaos in Kiev," following the UN Security Council meeting on recent Ukraine-Russia tensions. It comes a day after Russia detained two potential attackers on the Crimean border with Ukraine.

"There is chaos in Kiev. They don't know what to do with Donetsk. The Minsk agreements are quite clear, but they [Ukrainian authorities] have no political will to implement them," Churkin told journalists.

Donetsk is located in the eastern Ukrainian Donbass region, one of the hotspots of the current tensions.

"Many Security Council members called for full implementation of the Minsk agreements... This is in line with our stance," the diplomat said.

Instead of doing this, Kiev "distracts attention to other things," he added.
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Star of David

Lawsuit claims US aid to Israel is illegal


Sputnik
Fri, 12 Aug 2016 20:06 UTC
obama netanyahu
© AP Photo/ Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File
US aid to Israel is in violation of a 40-year-old law, a new lawsuit purports.

In 1976, the United States government enacted the International Security Assistance and Arms Export Control Act. Among other things, the law states that the executive branch cannot authorize financial aid for nuclear countries that are not party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

A lawsuit filed by the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy on Monday argues that Washington's tangible support for the Israeli government violates the law.

Since the year that the Arms Export Control Act went into effect, the United States has provided resources worth an estimated $234 billion to Israel, despite the fact that the Middle Eastern nation is widely known to be in possession of nuclear weapons, while not being a signatory to the nonproliferation treaty.
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Bad Guys

Trump supports jailing Americans at Guantanamo


Sputnik
Fri, 12 Aug 2016 19:41 UTC
trump
© Flickr/ Gage Skidmore
US Presidential hopeful Donald Trump has said he wants Americans suspected of terror offenses to be tried in military tribunals at the US naval base and prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

While campaigning in Florida on Thursday, Donald Trump told the Miami Herald:

"Well, I know that they [the Obama administration] want to try them in our regular court systems, and I don't like that at all, I don't like that at all. I would say they could be tried there [Guantanamo Bay]."

Currently it's illegal to try US citizens by military commisions, which would require an act of Congress to change, but Trump dismissed such concerns saying "that'll be fine."

Current US President Barack Obama has notoriously failed to close the US jail, despite campaigning on a promise to do so.
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Nuke

Pakistan ready to work out bilateral agreement on nuclear test ban with India


Sputnik
Fri, 12 Aug 2016 19:42 UTC
Indian surface-to-surface missle launch
© AP
Pakistan is ready to consider a bilateral agreement on imposing a moratorium on nuclear testing with India, the Pakistani prime minister's Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said Friday.

"Pakistan has consistently supported the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). We voted in favor of the treaty when it was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1996. We have announced a unilateral moratorium on further nuclear testing. Pakistan is ready to consider the transformation of its unilateral moratorium into the bilateral agreement with India on banning [nuclear] testing," Aziz told journalists.
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Question

Turkish FM says 32 recalled diplomats failed to return after post-coup attempt


Sputnik
Fri, 12 Aug 2016 18:56 UTC
Ankara Foreign Affairs building
© Wikipedia/ Vikiçizer
A total of 32 diplomats failed to return to Turkey despite being recalled in the wake of the military coup attempt, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Friday.

Speaking at a news conference in Ankara, Cavusoglu said that 208 Foreign Ministry employees have been recalled, of whom 32 failed to return, the Anadolu news agency reported. He specified that two personnel based in Bangladesh had fled to the United States.

"Some of them escaped by sea, some of them escaped by air. Some of them we have not confirmed their whereabouts. We will locate them shortly," the minister said.

Earlier in the day, Turkish Defense Minister Fikri Isik confirmed that two military attaches escaped from Greece to Italy.

Comment: Turkish military diplomats in Athens flee to Italy after failed coup

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Safe

Support of military forces is top priority for Syrian Finance Ministry


Sputnik
Fri, 12 Aug 2016 18:44 UTC
Syrian army troops
© Sputnik/ Michael Alaeddin
On July 3, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad announced the lineup of the new government, the first to be formed in the era of the New People's Council. Sputnik Arabic sat down with the country's new Finance Minister, Mamun Hamdan, to talk about Syria's wartime finances.

"Top priority for the country's budget is the support of the country's military forces and provision of whatever it requires for the defense of the Syrian people, to all those injured or who have otherwise suffered in the war and to the families of those who perished in the conflict," Mamun Hamdan told Sputnik Arabic.

"The Syrian Arab Army is fighting a war against terrorists and the country's economic activity should be ready to make sacrifices for the sake of Syria," he added.

The Finance Minister also revealed how the country's top financial institution is securing the country's budget while war is raging and amid the slowdown of any business activity in the country.
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Bad Guys

Turkish Admiral Mustafa Ugurlu seeking asylum in U.S. after government recall

Phil Stewart and Yara Bayoumy
Reuters
Tue, 09 Aug 2016 18:13 UTC
Turkish general asylum US
© Yeni Safak Turkish Navy Rear Admiral Mustafa Zeki Uğurlu.
A Turkish military officer on a U.S.-based assignment for NATO is seeking asylum in the United States after being recalled by the Turkish government in the wake of last month's failed military coup, U.S. officials told Reuters.

The asylum bid is the first known case involving a Turkish military officer in the United States as Turkey purges military ranks after mutinous soldiers commandeered fighter jets, helicopters and tanks in an unsuccessful attempt to oust President Tayyip Erdogan.

The case has the potential to further strain ties between the United States and Turkey, which is already demanding Washington hand over a U.S.-based Turkish cleric it alleges was responsible for the failed coup.

The two U.S. officials, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said the Turkish officer was working at the headquarters of NATO's Allied Command Transformation, located in Norfolk, Virginia. They did not name him or offer his rank.

However, an official at Turkey's embassy in Washington said Turkish Navy Rear Admiral Mustafa Ugurlu had failed to report to authorities after Turkey issued a detention order for him last month.
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Light Sabers

Congressional committee blasts US military for giving a false picture of positive efforts in fight against ISIS


RT
Fri, 12 Aug 2016 18:18 UTC
ISIS
© AFP
US Central Command intelligence reports provided a "more positive" picture of US efforts against Islamic State than facts on the ground actually supported, claims a new report from a congressional task force led by House Republicans.

The preliminary report, released Thursday, looked into whistleblower allegations that Central Command (CENTCOM) touched up intelligence reports to make US efforts against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) in Iraq and Syria appear more effective than it actually was. After interviewing five analysts and several experts, the panel found "persistent problems" with intelligence reports in 2014 and 2015.

The panel argued that in 2014 and 2015, "intelligence products approved by senior CENTCOM leaders typically provided a more positive depiction of US anti-terrorism efforts than was warranted by facts on the ground and were consistently more positive than analysis produced by other elements of the Intelligence Community."

The Pentagon declined to comment on the report, citing the current investigation into the matter by its own inspector-general.

"We will take no action or make any comment that could appear to influence the IG's work," Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant-Commander Patrick Evans said Thursday.
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Bomb

Canadian RCMP says gunned down terror suspect planned 'imminent' suicide attack


RT
Fri, 12 Aug 2016 17:38 UTC
terror attack foiled canada RCMP
© Chris Wattie / ReuterA video of Aaron Driver, a Canadian man killed by police on Wednesday who had indicated he planned to carry out an imminent rush-hour attack on a major Canadian city, August 11, 2016.
Canadian police said that the white Islamic State sympathizer killed in a major police takedown operation in southern Ontario on Wednesday was in the final stages of putting a plan to attack a busy urban area with a homemade bomb into action.

Local authorities were tipped off about a potential attack in Canada by the FBI, and police uncovered a "martyrdom video" made by the suspect, later identified as Aaron Driver, 24.

The video shows a man in a black balaclava promising to carry out an imminent attack on a Canadian city. "Oh Canada, you received many warnings, you were told many times what would become of those who fight against the Islamic State (IS, ISIS/ISIL)," said the man in the video.

[Aaron] Driver was planning to carry out his attack in a busy urban area during rush hour within 72 hours, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said at a press conference on Thursday.

Comment: One may wonder how much the FBI/RCMP was involved in Driver's "radicalization". It's been a tactic of the FBI for years to improve their own questionable credibility. In tipping off the RCMP, it provided Canada with another example of "Why they need us!" The RCMP has also taken a page from the FBI playbook.

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Arrow Up

Serbia takes up Russia's call to assist with humanitarian mission in Syria


Balkan Insight
Mon, 08 Aug 2016 17:52 UTC
Palmyra
© Beta/APRussian soldiers in Palmyra after the Syrian army recaptured the city.
The Serbian and Chinese defence ministries were the first to respond to Moscow's international call for help in Syria, Russian news agency Tass reported on Tuesday.

"The Russian defence ministry is grateful to the People's Republic of China and the Republic of Serbia, who were the first to come out in support of the Russian-Syrian initiative to conduct a humanitarian operation," the Russian ministry said in a statement.

"We count on further practical steps by these countries' defence ministries in support of the Russian efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to the population of Aleppo," it added.

Official invitations to join the operation have also been dispatched to the US military and to most European and Asian countries.
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