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Attention

NATO front cracking: Slovakia welcomes Russia's involvement in Syria


Sputnik
Sun, 18 Oct 2015 11:54 UTC
Russian airforce
© Sputnik/ Dmitriy Vinogradov
The Russian military operation in Syria has led to a division in NATO. For the first time a NATO country - Slovakia - has taken Russia's side and supported their involvement in the war-torn country.

The Prime Minister of Slovakia, Robert Fico, a NATO member country, has come out in support of Russia's involvement in the Syrian conflict.

"Whether an American attack on the targets of the Islamic State or a Russian attack would be successful, in both cases this is the same thing," Fico said in an interview with the Slovak Radio on Saturday, adding that a successful resolution of the conflict also requires participation of the Syrian head Bashar-al-Assad.

Comment: Hopefully more NATO countries join Slovakia's stance on the Syrian conflict.

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Network

Knock, knock, knocking on Putin's door: Saudi Arabia, Israel, Egypt are looking to Russia instead of the US


Sputnik
Sun, 18 Oct 2015 02:59 UTC
Obama sad
© AP/ Susan Walsh
Some of the US's major allies appear more and more convinced that Barack Obama is losing his political influence on the Syrian conflict and the fight against the self-proclaimed Islamic State terror group, according an analysis in the US media.

Key US partners are increasingly fixing their eyes on Moscow rather than Washington, writes Dan de Luce, a columnist for Foreign Policy.

According to de Luce, the recent visit of Saudi Arabia's defense minister Mohammed bin Salman to the Russian city of Sochi showcases on the one hand to what extent the "power dynamics" in the Middle East has changed, and on the other — that, in US allies' eyes, President Putin is close to taking Barack Obama's place of "regional kingmaker." The author pointed out that high-profile representatives of Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries are now "knocking on Putin's door instead of that of the Oval Office."

The visit of the Saudi minister, de Luce noted, suggests Riyadh is looking into the opportunity of an agreement under which Syrian president Bashar al-Assad would stay in power for a longer period of time in exchange for the creation of Russian-Saudi joint forces in the fight against IS.
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Gold Seal

The fall of the hegemon occurred on September 28, 2015


Paul Craig Roberts
Sat, 17 Oct 2015 00:00 UTC
Image

Dear Readers and Friends:

The distinguished and knowledgeable international commentator William Engdahl, in a superb statement, has expressed the view I gave you that Russian President Vladimir Putin's speech on September 28 at the 70th anniversary of the United Nations changed the balance of power in the world. Until Putin's speech the world was intimidated by the Washington Bully. Resistance to Washington brought swift retribution. In the Middle East and Africa it brought economic sanctions and military invasions that destroyed entire countries. In France and other US vassal states it brought multi-billion dollar confiscations of bank net worth as the price of not following Washington's policies toward other countries.

Comment: We also thought that Engdahl's assessment was superb and objective:

Putin's words and deeds have Washington on the defensive, exposed their 'dirty double game'

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Airplane

Russians are "the bad guys" because they achieve results


Sputnik
Sun, 18 Oct 2015 02:40 UTC
russia jets syria
© Dmitriy Vinogradov / RIA NovostiRussian Su-25 attack aircraft take off from the Khmeimim airbase in Syria
Washington is trying to present Russians as "the bad guys" since their aerial operation meant to destroy extremist groups in Syria is actually achieving results, while the US-led coalition failed to deliver on its promise to destroy the Islamic State, a German website asserted.

Alles Schall und Rauch added that the US information campaign against Moscow is based on "the total distortion of facts."

The website is also convinced that Washington is in fact supporting the brutal Sunni group, which is terrorizing Iraq and Syria. Similar claims recently surfaced after the Iraqi Armed Forces found a stockpile of US-made weapons, including a number of BGM-71 TOW II anti-tank missiles.

Last week, social media were abuzz when a video footage allegedly showing US supply crates in the strategic Iraqi town of Baiji was posted on Twitter. A man in the short video claimed that those were US supplies to Islamic State.
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Propaganda

The Western media have lost the plot in Syria (as they are supposed to)

Tara McCormack
Spiked
Fri, 16 Oct 2015 02:34 UTC
Putin
President Putin has consistently told the West his intentions.
Commentators slam Russia's interventions while ignoring the West's.

It is extraordinary to look back at Western Cold War propaganda; the scaremongering posters and films in which America is under attack from a vast alien force abroad and undercover agents at home. Very few intelligent people today would accept this propaganda as an accurate representation of reality. It is easy to see in hindsight that much Cold War propaganda was designed to create a climate of fear domestically and drum up support for overseas militarism.

Nevertheless, one of the most profoundly depressing things about the British press today is how uncritically it parrots the official line when it comes to foreign policy. Since the Ukrainian crisis, the British media seem to have killed off their critical faculties and burned the remains for good measure. Even intelligent analysts and commentators have forgotten the lessons of the Cold War and have so easily slipped back into a pale imitation of a Cold War narrative.

When it comes to the coverage of Russian bombing in Syria, however, the British media have surpassed themselves. The reporting on Russian airstrikes in Syria has ranged from the idiotic to the dishonest to the frankly astonishing. A headline in The Times a few weeks ago read 'Putin defies the West!'. Clearly, Putin didn't get the memo that Russian foreign policy is now controlled in Brussels and Washington.

Comment: All very valid points, but the most important one is missing. The mainstream media doesn't 'lack self-awareness'. It is doing the job it was assigned, presenting the world as the elites (who pay the salaries) desire.

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Cell Phone

German parliament approves new surveillance law, sparking protests


RT
Fri, 16 Oct 2015 02:13 UTC
germans protest surveillence
© Ruptly
Germany's parliament has voted in favor of a controversial surveillance law that would oblige telecom companies to store their customers' data for up to 10 weeks. Widely opposed by Germans, the law was protested by hundreds of activists during the vote.

The legislation was approved with 404 out of 552 lawmakers voting in favor of it.

The law means that now both national and foreign telecom companies in Germany will have to save information about the duration of telephone calls and customers' phone numbers and IP addresses for 10 weeks. Additionally, location data from mobile phones will be kept for four weeks. The contents of Germans' email communications will not be saved.

However, text messages do fall within the boundaries of the law. Local telecom companies will be required to retain the content of short messages for up to 10 weeks if phone number information cannot be separated from the text of the message itself, Germany's Suddeutsche Zeitung reported.

Although the law does not officially allow spying on German citizens, there are concerns that it does have the potential to be abused, the daily newspaper warned.
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Binoculars

ISIS positions in Syria vulnerable to Russian Navy strikes at any time


RT
Fri, 16 Oct 2015 01:55 UTC
Russian navy strike ISIS
© Vasily Batanov / RIA NovosRussian Navy warship
Russia can strike positions of Islamic State militants in Syria from its ships based in the Mediterranean Sea anytime should the command decide to do so, a senior Russian general said.

Colonel General Andrey Kartapolov said the Russian warships in the Mediterranean can "definitely" be used to deliver strikes in Syria the way the Russian fleet in the Caspian Sea was already used.

"Our naval group in the Mediterranean is mostly used for supplying goals. But to ensure that our supply lines are not disrobed, we have a group of warships there too. This group also provides antiaircraft protection four our base [in Tartus]," he said in an interview to Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper published on Friday.

General Kartapolov heads Operations in the Russian general staff. He was personally supervising the creation of the so-called coordination center in Baghdad, which Russia, Syria, Iraq and Iran created to share intelligence on terrorist forces and coordinate their war effort. The center plays a big part in fighting the terrorist group Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS or ISIL), the general told the newspaper.
"We realized that doing what the US-led coalition does and only bombing ISIL targets from the air would not allow defeating it. It requires doing things on the ground. The only force [in Syria] that can fight on the ground is the Syrian government army," he said. "We also had to join the forces of the nations and forces fighting ISIL on the ground to coordinate our effort."
He said the US was invited to take part in the center's work, but ignored it, apparently because of hurt pride.

Comment: A realistic assessment from the good General Kartapolov. No talk of 'cakewalks' here.

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Bad Guys

Oops, 'hit the wrong target': Saudi air raid kills at least 30 Yemeni pro-govt fighters


RT
Sun, 18 Oct 2015 01:49 UTC
Saudi jet
© Fahad Shadeed / Reuters
Saudi-led air force bombing has "mistakenly" led to the deaths of at least 30 Yemeni pro-government fighters loyal to ousted president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, local officials said, adding that the coalition reportedly "hit the wrong target."

The strike on the military camp in Yemen's Waziya, located between the southeastern provinces of Taiz and Lahj, left at least another 40 wounded. One official from the Hadi administration told Reuters that "the coalition raid hit the wrong target."

Medical sources and witnesses on the ground also confirmed to AFP and AP that the strike on the camp resulted in numerous casualties, placing the number of fatalities at between 20 and 30 soldiers.

However, a commander of Hadi-loyal forces in the area, Abedrabbo al-Mehwali, told AFP that only "eight fighters were killed and 25 wounded."

"They thought the Houthis were still there," another pro-government security official told AP.

Comment: Looks like supporting one group of rebels that look like another group of rebels can be difficult to distinguish. Here's an idea, stop supporting rebels!

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Star of David

Israeli soldier caught on video planting knife on Palestinian teen shot by illegal settler

M. David
Counter Current News
Sat, 17 Oct 2015 12:15 UTC
Last week a video of illegal Israeli settlers shooting a Palestinian teen in the West Bank went viral. The video showed the illegal settlers yelling to the teen "die you son of a whore!" over and over.

The boy in the video was writhing in pain, dying surrounded by settlers, and apparently a police officer or soldier who seemed to show no concern for any weapon being nearby. Indeed, in the video there is no sign of a knife that settlers and the IDF would later claim the boy had.


But now, a new video published on Facebook by Youth Against Settlements shows the moments after another illegal Israeli settler shot yet another Palestinian teenager dead in Hebron, Saturday.

Watch the video below...

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Info

America's longstanding strategy to vilify Russia

Phil Butler
New Eastern Outlook
Sat, 17 Oct 2015 00:00 UTC
Russian fighter jet
© RIA Novosti / Maxim Blinov
Foreign relations in between the so-called "West" and Russia have become increasingly hostile the last two years. However desperate tensions may have seemed now though, a look at America's policies over the last two administrations reveals the longstanding strategy to vilify the Russian Federation. Here's a look at the rhetoric now, and via the media since 2003. Russia was not declared the "enemy" just now, she always was for some.

In America today, many people think Vladimir Putin shot down MH17 personally. It's also true that the typical NFL football fan really believes Putin swiped New England Patriots' owner Robert Kraft's Super Bowl ring. Yes, you discern correctly, one big reason for America and Russia being in an unbridled nuclear war is a cheating NFL owner's (see ball inflation scandal) trophy. Not many ever took note of the fact News Corp billionaire Rupert Murdoch was supposedly a witness to this nefarious crime. Strange coincidence, is it not, that one of the men responsible for bashing Russia over the head with newspapers was also witness to the crime of the century? (See CNN video) If this is all news to you, I can identify. You see, even I considered this new Cold War as having a start date that coincided with the Euromaidan uprisings in Ukraine. But I was very far wrong, as you shall see too.

Comment:

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