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Quenelle

Organizers of Dutch-Ukraine referendum: "Who cares about Ukraine, our goal is the Nexit"


Fort Russ
Fri, 01 Apr 2016 10:37 UTC
dutch flag
© Flickr/ Colm MacCárthaigh
While the leader of the Dutch government does not see Kiev sitting among the members of the European Union, the organizers of the Dutch referendum on Ukraine-EU Association Agreement openly say, "Ukraine? Who cares?"

"We believe that Ukraine ought to have good relations as much with Europe as with Russia. This will be impossible if Ukraine becomes a member of the European Union," said the Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte in an interview on the site NU.nl.

In addition, he stressed that Ukraine and Russia are strongly linked historically. However, "following the events in eastern Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea to Russia, it is unlikely that the two countries will manage to reconcile soon," said the Dutch Minister's cabinet chief.

"Who cares about Ukraine, our goal is the Nexit"

On the subject of the April 6th Dutch referendum on Ukraine-EU Association Agreement, the organizers point out that this question is not of great importance to them. Their goal is to create opportunities for the "Nexit," a kind of Brexit but Dutch, to allow the Netherlands to leave the EU.
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Bomb

Unconscionable: CIA leaves explosives on school bus borrowed for training


RT
Fri, 01 Apr 2016 09:15 UTC
School bus
© Kevin Lamarque / Reuters
For at least two days a school bus in northern Virginia has been carrying students with explosive material hidden in its engine compartment. The explosives fell out of a container, which was used by the CIA for training last week.

"During the exercise, explosive training material was inadvertently left by the CIA K-9 unit in one of the buses used in the exercise," the CIA said in a statement. The agency attested that the explosives were "incredibly stable" and "benign" and didn't put anyone in danger.

The explosive was discovered on Wednesday during a routine maintenance check. It had been unnoticed for nearly a week since March 24.

Comment: Apparently the "sniffer dogs" failed in this case. Despite the CIA's claim there was no danger, accidents can happen and would have dreadful results with school kids involved.

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Rocket

More barking: North Korea launches alleged ballistic missile Into Sea of Japan


Sputnik
Fri, 01 Apr 2016 08:58 UTC
Kim Jong Un
© REUTERS/ KCNA
North Korea launched a projectile, possibly a ballistic missile, into the Sea of Japan on Friday, South Korean media reports.

The projectile was fired at around 13:00 (05:00 GMT) from North Korea's northeastern area, the South Korean Yonhap news agency said citing a South Korean military official.

The projectile is presumed to be a ballistic missile and the South Korean military is currently analyzing its trajectory, the official said.
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Info

Obama makes time to meet with Erdogan on margins of Nuclear Security Summit


Sputnik
Fri, 01 Apr 2016 08:45 UTC
US President Barack Obama and Recep Tayyip Erdogan
© AFP 2016/ Yasin Bulbul / POOL
US President Barack Obama met with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington DC, discussing terrorism and migration, the White House said.

On Wednesday, White House spokesperson Josh Earnest said Obama was likely to have a conversation with Erdogan, but added it would be nearly impossible for Obama to have sit-down meetings with all 50 world leaders attending the nuclear security summit.

"President Obama this evening met with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey on the margins of the Nuclear Security Summit to discuss US-Turkey cooperation on regional security, counterterrorism, and migration," the White House said in a Thursday statement.
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Dollar

Money talks: Obama offers Ukraine $2 billion loans for cabinet reshuffle


Sputnik
Fri, 01 Apr 2016 08:30 UTC
US President Barack Obama with Ukrainian Petro Poroshenko
© REUTERS/ Kevin Lamarque
US President Barack Obama met with his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington DC, stressing that a new reform-oriented cabinet must be formed in Ukraine, a statement on the official website of the Ukrainian president says.

The United States has provided Ukraine with two loan guarantees worth $2 billion and hundreds of millions in other assistance.

"Special attention was paid to the necessity of forming, as soon as possible, a reform-oriented coalition and government in Ukraine," the Friday statement said, adding that Obama confirmed that the United States is ready to provide Ukraine with $1 billion worth of loan guarantees once a new cabinet is formed in the country.

Comment: Makes one wonder what reforms the US has in mind to offer so much money?

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Snakes in Suits

Feeding the beast: Biden pledges Ukraine additional $335mn in military assistance


RT
Fri, 01 Apr 2016 08:10 UTC
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden (L) shakes hands with Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko
© Jonathan Ernst / ReutersU.S. Vice President Joe Biden (L) shakes hands with Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko before their bilateral meeting at the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington March 31, 2016
The US has promised Kiev an additional $335 million in security aid to help Ukraine boost its military strength. Washington also made it clear to the Ukrainian president that to unlock the next tranche of IMF money, Kiev should push ahead with political reforms.

US Vice President Joe Biden held a luncheon with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, who is currently visiting Washington as part of a nuclear summit comprising more than 50 world leaders. Poroshenko seized the rare opportunity to touch base with Obama administration officials.

According to an official statement on Poroshenko's website, Biden has indicated Washington's readiness to provide Kiev with additional $335 million in security assistance, which would be used to reform Ukraine's Armed Forces, National Guard and border control.

Comment: Contrast this with what Russia is doing for Ukraine: 50th humanitarian aid convoy rolls into Donbass as Moscow marks 1.5 years keeping 5 million Ukrainians alive

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Jet5

Russia vows 'totally asymmetric' response to a major US/NATO troop build-up in Europe


RT
Thu, 31 Mar 2016 01:41 UTC
US tanks
© Cezary Aszkielowicz / Agencja Gazeta / ReutersU.S. Army soldiers unload M1 Abrams tanks which will participate in exercises at the training ground in Drawsko Pomorskie, Jankowo Pomorskie, northwestern Poland.
Russia's envoy to NATO has vowed a "totally asymmetrical" response if the alliance stands by a plan to deploy new armored units to Eastern Europe. Citing Russian "aggression" as a pretext, the US has announced "continuous troop rotations" starting 2017.

"We are not passive observers, we consistently take all the military measures we consider necessary in order to counterbalance this reinforced presence that is not justified by anything," Moscow's permanent representative at the alliance, Aleksandr Grushko, said in an interview with TV channel Russia-24 on Wednesday. "Certainly, we'll respond totally asymmetrically."

Grushko did not elaborate on his statement, but said Russia's actions would correspond to its "understanding of the extent of the military threat, would not be extremely expensive, but also highly effective." "As of today, assessing as a whole what the US and NATO are doing, the point at issue is a substantial change for the worse in the security situation," he said.

The comments from Russia's NATO envoy came shortly after the Pentagon announced a plan to increase its troop presence in "the European theater" of up to three fully-manned Army brigades by the end of 2017, one armored, one airborne and one Stryker brigade.


Comment: Asymmetric warfare (or Asymmetric engagement) is war between belligerents whose relative military power differs significantly, or whose strategy or tactics differ significantly such as the use of unconventional weapons and tactics such as those associated with guerrilla warfare. The war in Afghanistan was an asymmetric war.


Comment: This is the beginning of the build-up to 'US Army Europe', a part of the European Reassurance Initiative: equipment, supplies, bases for operation, and US boots on the ground. If this was coming to a border near you, what would you think? And what would you do about it? The US and NATO say it is "assurance" and "deterrence." Russia says "restore cooperation."

See also:
According to US think tank: NATO's EU members unable, unprepared to fight Russians

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Bad Guys

President Assad: 'Erdogan's army of terrorists invaded Syria long ago'


RT
Thu, 31 Mar 2016 00:37 UTC
Bashar al-Assad
© SANA / ReutersSyria's President Bashar al-Assad

Comment: Assad makes a good point here. While Saudi Arabia and Turkey have been huffing and puffing about a potential invasion of their armies into Syria, the reality on the ground is that they already invaded right from the start of the Syrian war under the guise of ISIS and other terrorist fronts.


Turkey's direct support for terrorists fighting in Syria makes them President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's own army, Syrian President Bashar Assad said in an exclusive interview with Sputnik, adding that his country is ready to counter the aggression. Turkey, as well as Saudi Arabia, have "crossed all possible red lines, possibly from the first weeks of the Syrian war," Assad said.

"Today, the war against Erdogan and against Saudi Arabia is a war against terrorists. The Turkish army, which is not even Turkish, is Erdogan's army that is fighting today in Syria," he added. Everything that Ankara and Riyadh "have done from the very beginning can be considered aggression. Aggression in a political sense or in a military sense - providing terrorists with arms - or direct aggression with the use of artillery, and other military violations," he stressed.

Erdogan is directly supporting the terrorists as "he allows them to move into Turkish territory, to carry out maneuvers with tanks," the Syrian president said.
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Light Saber

Hague kangaroo court foiled: The acquittal of Serb Vojislav Seselj and its wider significance

Joaquin Flores
Fort Russ
Fri, 01 Apr 2016 00:30 UTC
Vojislav Seselj
Vojislav Seselj
Today, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) surprised many today with its announcement of the verdict of the leader of the Serbian Radical Party Vojislav Seselj - he was acquitted of all charges, with the court finding no criminal wrong doing on his part. He was accused of financing, managing, and supporting the Serb volunteer units and inciting ethnic hatred during the wars in Croatia and Bosnia in the early 1990's. His trial and imprisonment had long been a focus of Serbia's heated internal political scene, which is split over the issue of European integration and NATO, or increased ties with the Eurasian Union and the CSTO. Seselj is seen as a symbol of Serbia's resistance to foreign military and economic domination.

His acquittal comes as a surprise, not because of the strength of the evidence against him, but indeed the opposite. Previous convictions of other Serbs had been carried out by just as much evidence, which is to say, very little.

Comment: Seselj reportedly may seek €14 million in a claim against the UN tribunal for the abuse he suffered over the past 12 years.
"I had already filed a €12 million compensation claim in 2012. Now I could expand that claim by two million more, because all these years I have been through a lot of suffering waiting for the verdict," he said at a press conference in Belgrade on Thursday, as quoted by RIA Novosti.
...
When his first trial was canceled in 2006, he went on hunger strike to insist on his right to defend himself in court. When a second trial opened up in 2007, he cast himself as a martyr and expressed regret that the tribunal did not allow for the death sentence.
...
[In 2012] Seselj filed a 96-page request to the tribunal, in which he accused the court of delaying trial and violating his rights, asserting that the court would be required to pay compensation for the years spent in pre-trial detention. However, the tribunal found that Seselj's rights had not been violated, put forward the claims as "baseless," and refused to pay.

But ill health and over a decade behind bars hasn't deterred Seselj from appearing in the public eye, or from being active in politics. He has been seen publicly burning EU and NATO flags and firing up far-right allies ahead of Serbia's general election in April, in which he plans to stand.

"I don't regret a single day in the fight against the anti-Serbian court," he recently told RT.
Meanwhile: Show trial: The Hague convicts Serb leader Radovan Karadzic of genocide

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Light Sabers

Show trial: The Hague convicts Serb leader Radovan Karadzic of genocide

Diana Johnstone
CounterPunch
Wed, 30 Mar 2016 23:22 UTC
Radovan Karadzic
© APRadovan Karadzic
Last Thursday, news reports were largely devoted to the March 22 Brussels terror bombings and the US primary campaigns. And so little attention was paid to the verdict of the International Criminal Tribunal for (former) Yugoslavia (ICTY) finding Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic guilty of every crime it could come up with, including "genocide". It was a "ho-hum" bit of news. Karadzic had already been convicted by the media of every possible crime, and nobody ever imagined that he would be declared innocent by the single-issue court set up in The Hague essentially to judge the Serb side in the 1990s civil wars that tore apart the once independent country of Yugoslavia.

Although it bears the UN stamp of approval, thanks to the influence of the Western powers, ICTY is essentially a NATO tribunal, with proceedings in English according to a jurisprudence invented as it goes along. Its international judges are vetted by Washington officials. The presiding judge in the Karadzic case was a South Korean, O-Gon Kwon, selected surely less for his grasp of ethnic subtleties in the Balkans than for the fact that he holds a degree from Harvard Law School. Of the other two judges on the panel, one was British and the other was a retired judge from Trinidad and Tobago.

Comment: Further reading: UNSC resolution on Srebrenica was designed to justify NATO bombing of Yugoslavia

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