Puppet MastersS


Red Flag

Dutch lawmakers slam secrecy of MH17 investigation, point out lack of evidence of US claims


RT
Thu, 03 Mar 2016 19:27 UTC
mh17 crash
Dutch lawmakers have questioned the course of the investigation into the MH17 crash in Ukraine, highlighting innuendos in the Dutch Safety Board report, and lack of raw data despite US claims of picking up "imagery" as the jet disappeared from radars.

Dutch MPs have held a parliamentary debate on the investigation into the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014 that killed all 298 on board, most of them citizens of the Netherlands.

In particular, the Tuesday discussion focused on the final report into the causes of the incident issued by the Dutch Safety Board last October, and the recent chief prosecutor's letter which revealed the investigation has no raw radar data, useful footage or satellite images of the missile launch.

During the debate, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte's government insisted that there was already enough information for a criminal investigation into the crash, while Dutch opposition lawmakers questioned innuendos and a lack of firm evidence.

Among the questions raised by Dutch MPs was an issue concerning raw radar data and satellite imagery that the United States claimed to have in its possession and which it called strong evidence.
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Map

Making Nice: French Mediterranean mayor to visit Crimea


RT
Thu, 03 Mar 2016 19:31 UTC
Christian Estrosi
© Eric Gaillard/ReutersChristian Estrosi, mayor of Nice
The mayor of the French Mediterranean city of Nice will visit Crimea to renew a longstanding cooperation agreement with the city of Yalta. The French government decried the visit's importance, dubbing it "an initiative of one of the local politicians."

Nice, a renowned holiday resort on the Mediterranean, and Yalta, a coastal gem on the Black Sea, have been sister cities for over half a century and are set to continue their close ties despite the political rift between EU and Russia, since the Crimean Peninsula reunited with the latter almost two years ago.

Close contacts between the two cities have been reinstated thanks to Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi, who invited a delegation from Yalta to France to sign a memorandum on continuing partnership in keeping with the original agreement signed in 1960.

The Russian delegation spent almost a week in the French city, from February 26 to March 1.

Estrosi has agreed to visit Crimea, although the peninsula has not been recognized by France as part of Russia.

"Agreements have been reached on the reciprocal visit of the Nice mayor to Crimea, to Yalta, with the goal of signing a cooperation agreement. The approximate date of the visit is the latter half of May," local administration head Andrey Rostenko told TASS.

French Deputy Foreign Minister Alexandre Georgini has made a point that French government has nothing to do with the mayor's visit.
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Target

Easy target: Almost 2,000 court cases are open in Turkey for insulting Erdogan


RT
Thu, 03 Mar 2016 19:15 UTC
erdogan
© Murat Cetinmuhurdar / Presidential Palace / Reuters
Around 2,000 legal cases have been opened in Turkey for insulting Recep Tayyip Erdogan, since he became president 18 months ago. Mocking the president carries a maximum of four years in jail with schoolchildren and journalists amongst those arrested.

The revelations were made by Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag, who said the ministry had allowed 1,845 cases on charges of insulting Erdogan to proceed, Reuters reports.

"I am unable to read the shameful insults made against our president. I start to blush," said Bozdag, who is a member of Erdogan's ruling Islamist-rooted AK Party.

Those convicted of insulting the Turkish leader could receive a maximum prison sentence of four years. However, before Erdogan became president in August, 2014, the law was rarely invoked. Those critical of the president say he is using the legislation to crack down on dissent.

Comment: If he would stop acting like a dysfunctional troll, he wouldn't be so insultable. As he is, how can anyone resist?

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Radar

US delivers eight Blackhawk helicopters to Jordan to guard border against Daesh


Sputnik
Thu, 03 Mar 2016 18:46 UTC
US Blackhawk Helicopter
© Flickr/ Morning Calm Weekly Newspaper Installation
The United States has delivered eight UH-60A Blackhawk helicopters to Jordan to help its coalition partner secure its border from Daesh terrorists, the US Embassy in Jordan announced on Thursday.

Photos on the US Embassy's social media account showed Wells with Jordanian military officials jointly inspecting the Blackhawk helicopters during the handover ceremony.

"The United States is committed to standing with Jordan to face the threat posed by Daesh... We are honored to partner with you," US Ambassador Alice Wells was quoted as saying in the announcement during a ceremony to handover the eight helicopters.

The helicopters are "another tool for safeguarding" Jordan's border with Syria and Iraq, where the terrorist group has grown significantly since 2014, according to the announcement.
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Attention

Greek Coast Guards seize Turkish ship carrying weapons to Lebanon


Sputnik
Thu, 03 Mar 2016 18:42 UTC
Greek Coast Guard
© AP Photo/ Dimitris Drosos
Turkish media reported that the Greek Coast Guards stopped and confiscated a Turkish ship carrying weapons to Lebanon.

The incident took place on Monday. The ship reportedly departed from the port of Izmir on February 4 and was loaded with six containers, two of which contained weapons and ammunition. Greek authorities arrested all crew members, among them six Syrians, one Indian and four Lebanese.

Turkish authorities were repeatedly accused of providing weapons to radical groups, including those in Syria. The supplies are reported to have occurred in various forms, including deliveries using columns with humanitarian aid.
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Bomb

Terrorists bomb power stations in Syria's Hama Province


Sputnik
Thu, 03 Mar 2016 18:38 UTC
Masyaf Castle in Syria
© AP Photo/ Pavel Golovkin
Terrorists have damaged a power station in Syria's Hama province, a source in the Syrian Ministry of Electricity told Sputnik on Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, media reported that electricity had been cut off throughout all of the Syrian provinces.

"Militants have launched rockets at the Al-Zara power plant of in Hama province, which resulted in several generators being knocked out," the source said.
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War Whore

Israel and US phony excuse for endless war is the contrived Iran threat

Philip Giraldi
The Unz Review
Tue, 01 Mar 2016 17:35 UTC
iranian generals
The Israeli Minister of Defense is now telling anyone who is willing to listen that the Iranian government is building an "international terror network that includes sleeper cells that are stockpiling arms, intelligence and operatives to be ready to strike on command in places including Europe and the U.S." Moshe Yaalon elaborated that Iran intends to destabilize the entire Middle East as well as other parts of the world and is "training, funding and arming 'emissaries' to spread a revolution," all emanating from a "dangerous axis" that includes Baghdad, Damascus, Beirut and Sanaa.

These preposterous claims come on top of spurious assertions that Iran was building a nuclear weapon, repeated assiduously by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others in his various administrations over the course of twenty years. As it turns out, Iran was not building a nuke and much of the information used to bolster the argument being made turned out to be fabricated by the Israelis themselves, which says something for their credibility.

Israel and its boosters in Washington also continue to argue that Iran has a secret nuclear program squirreled away somewhere, that it will use its windfall of nuclear agreement cash not only to support terrorism but also to speed up weapon development while also destabilizing the entire Middle East. And if those alarming arguments don't convince the public, Israel's government and its friends in the media continue to insist that even if Iran is behaving today its deal with the west will surely guarantee a much feared weapon of mass destruction down the road. Iran is the enemy of choice yesterday, today and tomorrow and it will always be the enemy of choice no matter what it does or does not do.
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Eye 1

Hillary Clinton's role in Libya war exposed


RT
Thu, 03 Mar 2016 12:00 UTC
Hillary Clinton
© Javier Galeano / Reuters
New light is being shed on the role presidential candidate Hillary Clinton played, as Secretary of State, in the 2011 military intervention in Libya, with over 50 officials from the US, Europe, and Libya speaking out in interviews with The New York Times.

The report features many of those directly involved in the mission that overthrew the former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, portraying Clinton as a catalyst in the decision to go to war.

Comment: "So, ‪#‎KillaryClinton‬ appears to be the driving force behind the murder of a head of state and the destruction of an entire country."

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Candle

Russian Hmeimim airbase in Syria unaffected by blackout


Sputnik
Thu, 03 Mar 2016 16:53 UTC
Russian Hmeimim airbase
© Sputnik/ Dmitriy Vinogradov
A power grid blackout in Syria has not affected the work at the Hmeimim airbase in the Latakia province where a Russia air group is deployed, the Russian Defense Ministry said Thursday.

"All services are carrying out tasks in normal operation mode," ministry's spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said, adding that Hmeimim has enough power generators to ensure the uninterrupted work of the airbase.
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Light Sabers

Look to the East: Serbian PM says EU membership no longer the big dream for Balkan states


Novinite
Thu, 03 Mar 2016 16:36 UTC
serbia nato
Serbia's Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic has said that the refugee crisis affecting the EU and the possibility of Britain leaving the bloc have made accession to the Union less appealing to Balkan candidate countries, Reuters reported

Yet, accession to the bloc remained the top policy objective for Serbia, which began formal accession talks last year, the newswire quoted Vucic as saying at a conference at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in London on Monday.

"The EU that all of us (Balkan countries) are aspiring to, it has lost its magic power. Yes, we all want to join, but it is no longer the big dream it was in the past," Vucic said.

Comment: From the EU being the US lapdog in all things political to Russia showing it can withstand the Western sanctions and keep their composure in light of the taunting actions of the West, other countries are seeing that being friends with Russia is probably a better idea than cozying up to the West. It should only be a matter of time until other countries change their alliances as well.

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