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Alleged Paris attacker arrested in Belgium, reportedly cooperating with police

salah abdeslam
© RT Play / YouTube
Salah Abdeslam, a prime suspect in the November massacre in Paris, has been formally charged with terrorist murder, the Belgian prosecutor announced. Abdeslam, detained in Brussels on Friday, is cooperating with authorities, his lawyer said.

"He is cooperating with Belgian justice," the suspect's lawyer, Sven Mary told the media in Brussels on Saturday, Reuters reported.


Comment: Here's what Salah, who is accused of transporting others to the attacks and buying materials used to make the explosives, reportedly had to say:
"Salah Abdeslam today during questioning by investigators affirmed that, and I quote, 'he wanted to blow himself up at the Stade de France and that he had backed down'," Paris prosecutor Francois Molins told reporters on Saturday, but added that the suspect's initial statements should be treated with caution, Reuters reported.

... While his brother Brahim was one of the suicide bombers in the attacks, Salah Abdeslam is thought to have been wearing an explosives belt too. It was later found dumped in a bin in a suburb south of Paris.

Comment: Update March 20, 2016

From RT:
Sven Mary, one of Belgium's best known and most expensive lawyers, now defending Salah Abdeslam, the key suspect in the November 13 terrorist attacks in the French capital, announced he planned to sue the Paris prosecutor.

On Sunday, Mary accused the chief French investigator, Francois Molins, of violating judicial confidentiality, after the prosecutor disclosed Abdeslam's private admission to a magistrate when the official was speaking to the media, the lawyer alleged.

"During questioning by investigators [the suspect] affirmed that, and I quote, 'he wanted to blow himself up at the Stade de France and that he had backed down'," Molins told reporters on Saturday. "I cannot let this pass," Belgian state broadcaster RTBF reported Abdeslam's lawyer as saying. Mary added that he would start legal proceedings on Monday.



Green Light

Hitting Daesh where it hurts: Today Palmyra, tomorrow Raqqa

desert falcons
© Sputnik/ Mikhail VoskresenskiySyrian self-defense force The Desert Falcons.

Comment: Syrian media reported earlier today that airstrikes in the vicinity of Palmyra took out headquarters for both Daesh and Nusra, killing scores of militants. Ziad Fadel at Syrian Perspective reports:
This just in, the ISIS terrorist cannibals inside Tadmur are pleading with their higher-ups in Al-Raqqa to permit an organized withdrawal from the city. But, the moguls in Al-Raqqa will have none of it. ... SAA-MI monitors are recording Iraqi-accented voices on cellphones arguing about tactics and withdrawal. ... Loyal Syrian citizens inside the city are communicating with the army's liaison agents and are telling them that the ISIS terrorists have had it inside the city. They are incapable of mounting a serious defense what with their fortifications having been destroyed today by SAAF helicopters and cannons. With another huge army appearing out of the west, originally from the Latakia area, the ISIS criminals are awaiting certain annihilation.
...
The clock is ticking. The rats in side Palmyra are out of ammunition. They are out of medicine. They are out of time. They know it. In one conversation over unsecure lines, one Iraqi officer in Al-Raqqa told another Iraqi in Palmyra that he would be executed if he left the city. The response of the latter was that he would rather be killed by an Alawite than by any "son of a whore in Tal 'Afar" - a clear reference to the Caliph of Cockadoodledoo, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdaadi. SyrPer is projecting the liberation of Palmyra within 72 hours or certainly as soon as that division coming from Latakia arrives at the scene...

The Syrian Arab Army (SAA), assisted by Russian military aircraft and its local allies, has launched a massive operation to free the iconic ancient city of Palmyra, seized by Daesh in May 2015, in what would most likely pave the way for a campaign to push the terrorists out of Raqqa, the de facto capital of the caliphate.

Damascus-led forces need this victory because it holds both symbolic and strategic value.

Comment: Further reading: Go Falcons! Syrian army 'Desert Falcons' moving in to take back Palmyra from ISIS

Update

According to Al Masdar News, the Syrian Army's "Tiger Forces" have taken full control over the hills overlooking Daesh's supply route into the city:
Now that they have been cutoff along this important roadway, ISIL will have to take a long trip through the vast mountains of northeastern Homs that require them to travel along this rough terrain using makeshift roads. More importantly, the Ithriya-Palmyra Road provided ISIL a with short and reliable route to transport oil from the oil rich town of Al-Sukhanah to the Al-Raqqa Governorate. The loss of this road is going to be devastating in the coming days, as ISIL will be forced to rely on their current provisions against the well-armed Syrian Arab Army.



Light Saber

"By their fruits, ye shall know them": Syrians praise Putin amid Russia's withdrawal

syrian parade with putin and assad banners
© Sputnik/ Dmitriy Vinogradov
Syrians feel immense gratitude towards Russian military and Aerospace Forces with the popularity of Vladimir Putin soaring.

The partial withdrawal of Russian troops from the country is a matter of concern for the Syrian community, but the faith in Moscow's help is unwavering, according to the US media.

"Since Moscow lent its air power to the Syrian government's war, Russian leader Vladimir Putin has achieved cult status in Damascus."

Comment: Considering the tremendously positive impact that Putin and Russia have had on Syria, it's clear that Russia's intentions and concern were for the well-being of the Syrian people. Contrast this with the suffering and destruction of every country that the US and NATO have invaded to offer 'assistance'.


Stormtrooper

More troops on the ground in Iraq to fight ISIS - US deploys marines

US marines Iraq
© Erik de Castro / ReutersU.S. Marines, Baghdad, Iraq
Washington has sent a detachment of US Marines to Iraq to bolster the fight against the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) terror group. The Marines will reinforce US forces already there.

A group of Marines from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, or MEU, will be deployed on the ground, the US military said on Sunday, according to Reuters.

It isn't immediately clear how many personnel have been sent and to where.

The 26th MEU is one of seven Marine Expeditionary Units currently in the United States Marine Corps, according to the corps' official website. The MEU is a 2,200-strong Marine air-ground task force.

In January, US Defense Secretary Ash Carter reiterated Washington's plans to increase its military presence in the anti-IS campaign in Iraq.

"We're looking for opportunities to do more, and there will be boots on the ground — I want to be clear about that," Carter said at the time.

Prior to that statement, other US officials have also announced that more US military staff would be on their way to Iraq, to add to some 3,600 US army personnel already there.

Arrow Up

Go Falcons! Syrian army 'Desert Falcons' moving in to take back Palmyra from ISIS

syrian desert falcon fighters getting ready to crush ISIS
© Sputnik/ Mikhail Voskresenskiy
Fighters of the 'Desert Falcons' militia will strike with full force in order to free the ancient city of Palmyra.

Under the command of the Syrian army, the troops are getting ready to storm the city in the near future, chief of 'Desert Falcons' Mohammad Jaber told RIA Novosti.

The Syrian army and militia on Saturday completed the first phase of the operation to storm Palmyra, occupying the commanding heights and destroying command posts, ammunition depots and firing positions of the terrorist group.

Comment: Syria continues to make strides in defeating ISIS; hopefully victory is in sight!


Display

Mystery cyberattacks target Swedish newspapers for 'spreading propaganda', cause outages

shadow standing in front of matrix background computers hacking
© Pixabay
Unknown hackers carried out a series of coordinated attacks against the websites of a number of leading Swedish newspapers Saturday night, Radio Sweden reported, citing police sources.

Among the attacked newspapers were Aftonbladet, Expressen, Dagens Nyheter, Svenska Dagbladet, Dagens Industri and Sydsvenskan, the source said.

"Similar attacks happened in the past, but they were never coordinated," Anders Alkvist, an expert on cybercrime and security, told Radio Sweden.

That's why the Saturday attacks were the biggest cybercrime in Sweden's history, Alkvist said.

Cardboard Box

'Russia did it! Russia did it!': EU blames Russia for refugee crisis with absolutely no supporting evidence

people in snow in germany
© AP Photo/ Armin Weigel/dpa
The EU and NATO are blaming Russia for all ills in Europe to shift responsibility to Moscow for their own problems, a political analyst wrote.

Recently, The Guardian published an interview with Janis Sarts, Director of NATO's Strategic Communications Center of Excellence in Latvia. He said that Russia was trying to "topple Angela Merkel by waging an information war designed to stir up anger in Germany over refugees."


Comment: Ah yes, StratCom, the NATO Lie Factory, where Washington's orders are processed and shipped for consumption:

Inside the NATO Troll Factory: Meet Finnish troll-doctor Torsti Sirén, who hates Sott.net


According to Sarts, there is "evidence" that Russia is waging such a "war" but he did not provide it. The newspaper only wrote that he "has access to intelligence briefings."

Comment: The burden of proof lies on the party making the claim. As usual, the EU and NATO provide not only no proof, but not even any evidence, for their claims against Russia. Without that, their claims have no ground to stand on and amount to nothing more than baseless accusations.


Attention

EU agreement change: Turkey has no mandate or commitment to respect human rights

Erdogan and finger
© shoebat.com"My way or the highway. Take it or leave it."
The EU and Turkey have reached an agreement on limiting migration to Europe during the talks in Brussels on Friday, various officials said. The Ankara government agreed to take back all undocumented migrants that had arrived to the European Union in exchange for Syrian refugees registered in Turkey on a one-for-one basis. In return, Ankara is expecting the introduction of visa-free regime in summer 2016 and financial assistance of six billion euros from the EU.

Other conditions of the deal included the protection of refugees as well as the respect for human rights and compliance with the Geneva Convention. However, Turkey apparently managed to soften the EU's demands in this field.

In the original draft of the agreement, Turkey had a "commitment" to "meet international standards" in the field of human rights. However, in the final document approved on Friday the wording was changed, with Ankara having to protect "all refugees" according to "relevant" international standards and not deport them to dangerous countries of origin, German newspaper Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten (DWN) reported, referring to AFP.

What exactly the "relevant" standards are is a matter of interpretation. Human rights organizations fear that the new initiative could lead to waves of refugees' mass deportations.

Turkish authorities have been repeatedly accused of not fulfilling human rights and democracy standards. As was earlier mentioned by ECA report, even in the EU the respect for migrants' human rights often "remains theoretical and is only rarely translated into practice".

Comment: The fact that Turkey, with its track record, can get away with these demands doesn't say much about the EU. If anything, the EU seems desperate to find solutions, no matter what the cost to its reputation or the refugees. If Erdogan's massacre of Kurds in Turkey, Syria and Iraq is any example, human wrongs do not provide examples of human rights. "Relevant" international standards? In Erdogan's case, we have yet to see the bottom. Lowering the stipulation in the agreement is a big and potentially costly mistake.


SOTT Logo Radio

SOTT Focus: Behind the Headlines: From the invasion of Iraq to the refugee crisis: 'Reshaping' the planet through phony terror

iraqis
Today marks the 13th anniversary of the post-9/11 invasion of Iraq. March 20th, 2003 was the date on which the Western Empire began its insane quest to 'reshape the Middle East' through violent intervention. This week on Behind the Headlines, we'll be looking back at the bloody mayhem the Iraq War unleashed, and discussing its ongoing ramifications as it continues spreading today, not least in Turkey, where yet another 'suicide' bombing took place this week.

Unlike the American 'Mission Accomplished' three months after invading Iraq in 2003, the Russian equivalent in Syria this week appears to have some basis in reality. We'll be exploring what it means for the balance of power in the Middle East, and also discussing whether there is any connection to yet another Russian passenger airplane falling out of the sky near the conflict zone in southeastern Ukraine yesterday.

This show aired live from 1pm-2.30pm EST / 5-6.30pm UTC / 6-7.30pm CET

Running Time: 01:35:08

Download: MP3


No Entry

Retrospective: How Russia ruined US plans in Crimea

Boy with Russia flag
© news.yahoo.comCrimea returns to Russia.
Sanctions as revenge for Crimea: American plans that were ruined 2 years ago

Crimea is compared with an aircraft carrier for a reason — those controlling the peninsula can control the territory of all the countries of the Black sea basin. Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Georgia, Ukraine, Russia. Well, Russia now itself controls all of this space. However, if two years ago, thanks to popular referendum, Crimea did not return to the Russian shores, today it could [be flying] the star-spangled banner.

All the financing of Maidan in Ukraine was driven by one particular goal, for which the U.S. State Department spared neither suitcases with dollars, nor cookies from Mrs. Nuland - Crimea. American missile defense system in Crimea would close the entire South and South-West Russia from the possibility of using ballistic missiles that serve as a deterrent to so-called American preventive nuclear strike. No coincidence that the much-touted project of European missile defense, which badly battered the nerves of our politicians and military, has flopped after the restoration of status quo in Crimea.

Americans have coveted the Crimea. Perhaps not as the 53rd state of the USA, but as a military base with broad capabilities - for sure. And would pay up the rapidly impoverished Kiev for the next hundred years enough to silence the government and Crimean Tatar Majlis, and to restrain the appetites of Turkey for the peninsula.

On February 13, 2014, when tires and Berkut troops were burning on Maidan, a U.S. Navy squadron led by an aircraft carrier "George Bush", carrying 90 aircraft and helicopters on board, escorted by 16 warships and three nuclear submarines left Norfolk for the Aegean sea. Ten days later, when President Yanukovych was deposed of power in Kiev, the squadron went through the Bosphorus into the Black Sea.

Its further course lay to the shores of Crimea, where American sailors had hoped to see along the walls of the Russian Black sea fleet base the star-spangled banners and young Crimean girls wearing vyshivanki, short skirts greeting them with bread and salt. But Americans never saw the Crimean shores — they were not welcomed. "Polite people" already appeared in Crimea, and the Russian navy was conducting exercises nearby.


Comment: 'Polite People' were masked soldiers in unmarked green army uniforms - spontaneous self-defense groups or special forces - two different theories.


Comment: When one door closes, sometimes another doesn't open...as the case with Crimea. All the "effort" the US spent in acquiring bully rights in Ukraine did not ultimately give them what they truly wanted: Dominance in the Black Sea via military bases in Crimea. Kudos to the Russians for outplaying the US, regaining control of its territory and, respectively, the reciprocal loyalty of the Crimean people.