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Putting the mask back on: Kiev revokes anti-free speech sanctions on European journalists after western outcry


RT
Thu, 17 Sep 2015 10:53 UTC
poroshenko
© Andrew Kravchenko / Pool / Reuters "What? There's something wrong with stifling free speech? Why didn't Pyatt tell me?!"
Ukraine's sanction list has become much shorter since President Petro Poroshenko has ordered to strike off the names of journalists for British, German and Spanish media outlets, apparently giving in to the pressure from European organizations and media.

The National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine has scratched off the list the names of British, German and Spanish journalists, reported Poroshenko's press secretary Svyatoslav Tsegolko on his Twitter account.

That means that journalists from UK's BBC, Spain's El Pais and Germany's Die Zeit now have the right to work in Ukraine.

Initially, Tsegolko reported that only British journalists from BBC were excluded from the list.

US Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt has welcomed the decision, writing "Glad to see Minister Stets (Ukraine's Information Policy Minister Yury Stets) agrees on press freedom and need to correct sanctions list."

Comment: Note that the outcry only applies to Western media organizations. Can't have the West's propaganda outfits banned in their latest vassal state, after all! But banning Russian journalists? That's fair game. See also:

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Fireball 2

Slovenia stops rail traffic to halt 200 refugees crossing from Croatia


RT
Fri, 18 Sep 2015 01:01 UTC
Image
© Jure Makovec/AFPPolice officers look at migrants sitting on the windows of a train at the railway station, near the Slovenian-Croatian border in Dobova, Brezice, on September 17, 2015.
Slovenia has stopped rail traffic at the border crossing with Croatia after a train carrying 200 refugees was intercepted in Dobova. The Balkan state vowed to shelter up to 5,000 asylum seekers. Some 8,000 people poured into Croatia in just two days and more are projected to arrive shortly.

Slovenia is the latest European country fielding a massive influx of refugees mostly fleeing war-torn Syria.

On Thursday Slovenian police halted a train carrying some 200 refugees coming from Croatia. According to official statistics, this was the largest group of refugees that tried to enter the Balkan state since the crisis flared up in Europe so far. Slovenian police said that the migrants stopped at Dobova train station on the Slovenian side of the border would be returned to Croatia.

"We will return them to Croatia in the shortest time possible," Anton Stubljar, head of the sector for state border and foreigners at the Novo Mesto police administration, told the media.
Image
© Jure Makovec/AFP
As a sign of "protection", "solidarity" and "respect", Slovenia is ready to provide shelter to up to 5,000 refugees, Slovenia's ambassador to London Tadej Rupel told the Guardian.

"What we are emphasizing is that refugees and migrants need protection, our solidarity, compassion and respect. We are ready and committed to all the humanitarian needs of those who are migrating and for refugees," Rupel said.


Comment: Where was this protection, solidarity, respect and COMPASSION when their respective countries were being decimated by the U.S., UK and NATO? Where was your humanity then?


Some 2,000 people would be accommodated in buildings such as sports centers while another 3,000 in tented camps around the country, according to Rupel. But even hosting such capacity will require additional help from the government and "everyone who understands the human suffering of the people fleeing war-ravaged areas,"Slovenia's Red Cross has said in a statement.

Comment: Full Assad interview with Russian media: 'Westerners are crying for the Syrian refugees with one eye, aiming their guns with the other'

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Airplane

Ukraine sanctions 25 Russian airlines, 2 of which don't exist


RT
Thu, 17 Sep 2015 09:43 UTC
stewardess
© www.rt.comNo Fight and No Flight
All Russian airlines, including Aeroflot, are being fully or partially prohibited from overflying or flying to and from the territory of Ukraine.

According to a document on President Petro Poroshenko's website, the list includes the largest Russian airline Aeroflot and its three subsidiaries - Donavia, Orenburg Airlines and Rossiya Airlines. Kiev has also banned AK Bars Aero which had its license revoked in January, and Polet that stopped operations in December.

As of Thursday, Borispol Airport in Kiev expects scheduled flights from the banned S7, Aeroflot and Rossiya airlines without any changes.

Ukrainian sanctions also affect 28 Russian banks, including Gazprombank and Rosselkhozbank, but do not affect Sberbank, VTB and Vnesheconombank which have subsidiaries in Ukraine. The black list also includes four banks that have lost their licenses to operate in Russia. State TV channels and a helicopter design and manufacturing company Russian Helicopters didn't escape the embargo, either.

Poroshenko stressed the decision was made "in coordination with our partners from the European Union and the United States."

Last August, the Russian government warned the EU of a possible ban on Western airlines flying through its airspace if flagship carrier Aeroflot was included in the sanctions list.

Comment: Poroshenko is on a sanctions and ban bender. There's democracy for ya!
See also: In an act of Western styled 'freedom', Poroshenko bans dozens of journalists from Ukraine

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Eye 1

Sott Exclusive: Israel PM Netanyahu welcomes Jews but turns away Syrian NATO war refugees

Amari Roos
Sott.net
Fri, 18 Sep 2015 00:22 UTC
Netanyahu
© AP Photo/ Gali Tibbon, PoolNetanyahu: "We will not allow Israel to be submerged by a wave of illegal migrants and terrorist activists."
Victims of NATO wars forced out of Syria won't find one in neighboring Israel. Israeli PM Netanyahu rejected calls for the country to take in Syrian refugees. Instead, he pledged to build an 18-mile border fence along the frontier with Jordan. The new 30km fence will be a continuation of a 240km barrier that already runs along the Egyptian border. The country also has a fence that runs along the Syrian frontier through the Golan Heights and occupied West Bank. "We will as much as possible surround Israel's borders with a sophisticated security fence that will allow us to control our borders," the hysterical Netanyahu said.Does he realise that, after walling the Palestinians into the largest open-air prison in the world, he is turning Israel into a fortress nation?

Bibi further commented, "Israel is not indifferent to the human tragedy of Syrian and African refugees... but Israel is a small country, very small, without demographic or geographic depth. That is why we must control our borders". This is an interesting statement, because in February this year, following 'terror' attacks in France and Copenhagen, Netanyahu called for the mass migration of European Jews to Israel.

On Sunday February 15th, he told the Jewish population residing in Europe: "This wave of terror attacks can be expected to continue, including antisemitic and murderous attacks. We say to the Jews, to our brothers and sisters, Israel is your home and that of every Jew. Israel is waiting for you with open arms." Are we to believe that the country is large enough to house every Jew living in Europe, all 1.4 million of them, yet too small to provide accommodation for a few tens of thousands of desperate Syrian men, women, and children?

But I forget, Israel is a 'Jewish state'.
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Bulb

What a good idea! Iceland's capital bans all Israeli products over occupation of Palestine


Sputnik
Thu, 17 Sep 2015 20:46 UTC
Image
'Not Apartheid': Palestinians in their own land, stolen by Israel
In a symbolic move aimed at demonstrating support for Palestinian statehood, Iceland's capital city council voted on Tuesday in favor of boycotting Israeli made products.

The motion was put forward to the Reykjavik city council by Björk Vilhelmsdóttir, a councilwoman for the Social Democratic Movement. Its approval on Wednesday comes as Israel battles a motion by the European Union calling for labeling products made in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

According to Iceland Magazine, a memorandum of the act describes it as a symbolic demonstration of the city's support for Palestinian statehood, and a condemnation of Israel's "policy of apartheid."
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Info

Senate blocks last bid to kill Iran nuclear deal


Reuters
Thu, 17 Sep 2015 20:52 UTC
Speaker of the House John Boehner
© Reuters/Joshua Roberts
U.S. Senate Democrats on Thursday blocked legislation meant to kill the Iran nuclear deal for a third time, securing perhaps the greatest foreign policy win of President Barack Obama's six years in office and clearing the way to implement the accord.

By a 56-42 vote, the Republican-majority Senate fell short of the 60 votes needed to advance in the 100-member chamber.

Despite an intense and expensive lobbying effort against it, all but four of Obama's fellow Democrats backed the nuclear pact between the United States, five other world powers and Tehran announced in July.

With no more Senate votes this week, the result ensured Congress will not pass a resolution of disapproval that would have crippled the deal by eliminating Obama's ability to waive many sanctions.

A resolution would have had to pass both the Senate and House of Representatives by midnight Thursday, and survive Obama's veto, to be enacted.
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Light Sabers

On regime change in Syria, Putin draws a line in the sand

Mike Whitney
Counterpunch
Thu, 17 Sep 2015 20:42 UTC
Putin Assad Obama
© RIA Novosti/ AFP
"Obama administration officials, who have been negotiating with Turkey for months, said Thursday that they had reached an agreement for manned and unmanned American warplanes to carry out aerial attacks on Islamic State positions from air bases at Incirlik and Diyarbakir. The agreement was described by one senior administration official as a "game changer."

New York Times, July 23, 2015
The Syrian war can divided into two parts: The pre-Incirlik period and the post-Incirlik period. The pre-Incirlik period is roughly the four year stretch during which US-backed Islamic militias and al Qaida-linked groups fought the Syrian army with the intention of removing President Bashar al Assad from power. This first phase of the war ended in a draw.

The post-Incirlik period looks like it could produce an entirely different outcome due to the fact that the US will be able to deploy its drones and warplanes from a Turkish airbase (Incirlik) that's just 15 minutes flying-time from Syria. That will boost the number of sorties the USAF is able to carry out while increasing the effectiveness of its jihadi forces on the ground which will conduct their operations under the protection of US air cover. This will greatly improve their chances for success.
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Megaphone

Russian Foreign Ministry: Baltic states denying Russian journalists entry shows disrespect to freedom of speech


RT
Thu, 17 Sep 2015 19:17 UTC
Image
© Maxim Shemetov / Reuters
The Baltic States have shown their disrespect of the freedom of speech by denying Russian journalists entry, the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement following a series of incidents involving Russian reporters in the Baltic countries.

"Amid the constant EU claims about its commitment to the freedom of speech... this important principle is neglected almost on a daily basis in favor of political ambitions," the statement says.

The Baltic States "automatically regard every person to a varying degree connected to the Russian media as an adversary and a subject of persecution," Russian Foreign Ministry said referring to a series of incidents involving Russia's journalists in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
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Russia supports expanding UN Security Council if backed by majority of member states


RT
Wed, 16 Sep 2015 18:07 UTC
Image
© Keith Bedford / ReutersThe United Nations Security Council meets at its headquarters in New York
Russia would support expanding the UN Security Council if it is backed by more than two-thirds of UN members states, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said.TrendsUNGA70

"We [Russia] are ready to support the option of expanding the [UN] Security Council, which will be agreed on by the overwhelming majority of member states. Ideally, it will be 100 percent [of them in favor]. Anyway, more than two-thirds of [member]-countries," Gatilov said.

According to the UN Charter, a resolution needs two-thirds of votes in its favor to pass.

"But taking into account that the problem of reforming [UNSC] is rather sensitive and politically important for the future of the organization, we believe that two-thirds of votes are not enough and more support is needed for the resolution to pass."

Russia also endorses keeping the veto right for the five permanent members of the UNSC - China, France, Russia, UK and US, said Gatilov, adding that giving this right to new potential members should be reviewed separately.
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Eye 2

Saudi diplomat accused of raping Nepali maids and keeping them as sex slaves leaves country under diplomatic immunity


RT
Thu, 17 Sep 2015 17:59 UTC
Image
© Anindito Mukherjee / ReutersDemonstrators from the All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA) shout slogans and hold placards during a protest outside Saudi Arabia's embassy in New Delhi, India, September 10, 2015
A Saudi diplomat, accused of raping two Nepali maids in his apartment for months, has left India under diplomatic immunity.

The case has wedged New Delhi between a rock and a hard place, balancing relations with Saudi Arabia, one of its key oil suppliers, and Nepal, where India is competing for influence with China.

The two women, aged 30 and 50, have accused the man, identified as Majed Hassan Ashoor, the first secretary at the Saudi Embassy in New Delhi, of illegally confining and raping them.

According to a statement by police in Gurgaon, the women allege they were "beaten up, raped and abused and threatened by the family and their guests" for the past four to five months, adding that they were forbidden to go out of the house during this period. The maids say they were raped by eight men on one occasion, Reuters reported.

Comment: See: Saudi diplomat and family accused of raping and torturing 2 Nepali 'slaves'

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