Puppet MastersS


Chess

Is there to be a regime change in Ankara? More likely than you think

Mike Whitney
Counter Punch
Wed, 24 Feb 2016 00:00 UTC
Erdogan/putin
© ekurd.netErdogan...madman or just overly enthusiastic. What does Putin think?
On Friday, the United States rejected a draft resolution by Russia that was intended to prevent a Turkish invasion of Syria. Moscow had called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to address its growing concern that Turkey is planning to send thousands of ground troops and armored vehicles it has massed on its southern border, into Syria to protect Turkish-backed militants and to block the Kurdish militia, the YPG, from establishing a contiguous state in northern Syria. Moscow's one-page resolution was a thoroughly-straightforward document aimed at preventing a massive escalation in a conflict that has already claimed the lives of 250, 000 and left the country in ruins.

According to Russia's deputy U.N. envoy, Vladimir Safronkov, "The main elements of this Russian draft resolution are to demand that all parties refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of Syria, that they fully respect Syria's sovereignty and independence, stop incursions, and abandon plans for ground operations." The resolution also expressed Moscow's "grave alarm at the reports of military buildup and preparatory activities aimed at launching foreign ground intervention into the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic."

There was nothing controversial about the resolution, no tricks and no hidden meaning. The delegates were simply asked to support Syrian sovereignty and oppose armed aggression. These are the very principles upon which the United Nations was founded. The US and its allies rejected these principles because they failed to jibe with Washington's geopolitical ambitions in Syria.

Quashing the resolution confirms in the clearest terms that Washington doesn't want peace in Syria. Also, it suggests that the Obama administration thinks that Turkish ground troops could play an important role in shaping the outcome of a conflict that the US is still determined to win. Keep in mind, if the resolution had passed, the threat of a Turkish invasion would have vanished immediately. Why? Because the Turkish "military has publicly stated that it is not willing to send troops across the border without U.N. Security Council approval."

Comment: Whether or not a trap is now being set for Erdogan, he has managed to single-handedly and wittingly bring himself to the brink of destruction. He is playing into the very scenarios that will assure his downfall, perhaps even his demise.

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Document

What the Russian-American agreement on Syria solves?

The Saker
Unz Review
Wed, 24 Feb 2016 00:00 UTC
syrian flag
© www.express.co.ukBullet hole strewn flag still flies in Syria.
The recent agreement between the USA and Russia really solves nothing, it does not even end the war, and both sides are expressing a great deal of caution about its future implementation. And yet, this is a huge victory for Russia. While it is too early to say that "the Russian won in Syria", I think that it is now fair to say that the Russian position on Syria has won. Here is why:

First: nobody is suggesting anymore that Assad will be ousted or Damascus taken. That, in turn, means that everybody has now recognized that Syrian Arab Republic, backed by Russia, has successfully repelled the aggression of the huge coalition the AngloZionists built to overthrow Assad.

Second: Russia has forced the UNSC and the USA to admit that the vast majority of those who fight Assad today are terrorists. Of course, this is not how this was declared, but if you look at the organizations which the UNSC has already declared as 'terrorists' then you already have an absolute majority of the anti-Assad forces. This means that the moral and legal legitimacy of the anti-Assad forces is lies in tatters.

Comment: By way of this agreement process, many aspects of the Syrian conflict may be forced to change - by design, revelation, fear or upsmanship. Whether it will all be for the better depends on truth and honor and, as for the West, left to be seen. More likely the negative aspects will regroup and strengthen in places like Libya and Yemen. Evil always pops out somewhere.

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Quenelle

Davutoglu & Erdogan are greatest threats to Turkey's national security - Syrian official


Sputnik
Thu, 25 Feb 2016 21:54 UTC
Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan
© Umit Bektas / Reuters
The Syrian opposition has agreed to a proposal of establishing a two-week truce. The High Negotiations Committee said the initiative will test the government's commitment to a Russia-US endorsed plan on the cessation of hostilities.

The opposition's statement came after Damascus voiced its readiness to maintain the truce. Hopes are that the ceasefire deal, which is due to start on February 27, will help to resume Geneva peace talks between the warring sides.

The agreement is applied to all members of the conflict, accept for Daesh and al-Nusra Front.

Comment: Further reading:
"Turkish heavy artillery is shelling settlements on the border. Instead of making groundless allegations that [Russia] is carrying out haphazard airstrikes, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Doctors Without Borders should make a formal assessment of the Turkish Armed Forces' criminal actions," said Konashenkov.

Turkey's attacks on Syria should be investigated by Amnesty Int'l - Russian MoD


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Safe

Deadline looming: Ukraine has to respond by March 4 to Russia's claim on $3 bln debt


Tass
Thu, 25 Feb 2016 20:53 UTC
Russia loan Ukraine
© Sergey Dolzhenko/European Press Agency
The Russian claim to Ukraine amounts to $3 bln, plus $75 mln of interest

Ukraine has to respond to Russia's claim on debt before March 4, after that the court is going to appoint a hearing, Russian Deputy Finance Minister Sergey Storchak told journalists on Thursday.

"March 4 - is the first key date, when the Ukrainians need to respond to our claim. And then the court will have to appoint a hearing," he said.

Explaining the procedure, Storchak said, "We have presented a claim, they need to present some counter arguments. This is the usual procedure."

He noted that the total sum of the claim amounts to $3 bln, plus $75 mln of interest.

Storchak noted that discussing measures of financial support for Belarus is in the agenda of Thursday's visit of the Russian President Vladimir Putin to Minsk, but declined to talk about further details of possible aid.

Comment: Ukraine is a pawn in the West's financial war on Russia. Things may not go as planned though.

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Light Saber

Turkey's attacks on Syria should be investigated by Amnesty Int'l - Russian MoD


Sputnik
Thu, 25 Feb 2016 20:44 UTC
Turkey attack syria
© Bulent Kilic/Agence France-PresseTanks stationed at a Turkish army position near the Oncupinar crossing gate close to the town of Kilis, south central Turkey, fire towards the Syria border, on February 16, 2016
Turkish military continues to shell Syrian settlements across the border, Russian Defense Ministry's spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said.

"Turkey is continuing to fire heavy artillery shells at Syrian villages near the border," Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said.

The Russian Defense Ministry called on Amnesty International to assess the situation on the Turkish-Syrian border.

"Turkish heavy artillery is shelling settlements on the border. Instead of making groundless allegations that [Russia] is carrying out haphazard airstrikes, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Doctors Without Borders should make a formal assessment of the Turkish Armed Forces' criminal actions," said Konashenkov.

Comment: The Russians seem to be the only ones sincerely worried about civilian casualties, or upholding international law.

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Bandaid

John Kerry is sabotaging Syria ceasefire before it even takes place

Mark Nicholas
Russia Insider
Wed, 24 Feb 2016 18:48 UTC
Kerry headline
That's Western 'nation-building' and international law for you
John Kerry is an incredible motivator! He has just told Syrian jihadi-controlled rebellion that all it has to do is sabotage the upcoming ceasefire he has agreed to with Moscow and he will reward them with a mini-state carved out from Syria. What better incentive to abide by the deal and cease hostilities could he possibly give them?
John Kerry, the US secretary of state, has said he will move towards a plan B that could involve a partition of Syria if a planned ceasefire due to start in the next few days does not materialize, or if a genuine shift to a transitional government does not take place in the coming months.
Oh yes, you may have thought that "partition" is a bad word, but that's only true when the Russians do it. When Americans partition a foreign country (Korea, Vietnam, Yugoslavia, Serbia, Sudan) that is actually a good thing.

Comment: The schizophrenia of American foreign policy just keeps getting more obvious. Every reasonable statement or decision that comes out of American leadership is almost always contradicted by its total opposite within hours or days. It's almost as if these 'good' policies (Minsk, Syria) are necessary concessions to Russian leadership, but American petulance provokes efforts to undermine those very policies...

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Arrow Down

Wash, rinse, repeat: The subprime auto loan meltdown is here

Michael Snyder
The Economic Collapse
Wed, 24 Feb 2016 19:55 UTC
Predatory capitalism
Uh oh - here we go again. Do you remember the subprime mortgage meltdown during the last financial crisis? Well, now a similar thing is happening with auto loans. The auto industry has been doing better than many other areas of the economy in recent years, but this "mini-boom" was fueled in large part by customers with subprime credit. According to Equifax, an astounding 23.5 percent of all new auto loans were made to subprime borrowers in 2015. At this point, there is a total of somewhere around $200 billion in subprime auto loans floating around out there, and many of these loans have been "repackaged" and sold to investors. I know - all of this sounds a little too close for comfort to what happened with subprime mortgages the last time around. We never seem to learn from our mistakes, and a lot of investors are going to end up paying the price.

Everything would be fine if the number of subprime borrowers not making their payments was extremely low. And that was true for a while, but now delinquency rates and default rates are rising to levels that we haven't seen since the last recession. The following comes from Time Magazine...
People, especially those with shaky credit, are having a tougher time than usual making their car payments.

According to Bloomberg, almost 5% of subprime car loans that were bundled into securities and sold to investors are delinquent, and the default rate is even higher than that. (Depending on who's counting, delinquency is up to three or four months behind in payments; default is what happens after that). At just over 12% in January, the default rate jumped one entire percentage point in just a month. Both delinquency and default rates are now the highest they've been since 2010, when the ripple effects of the recession still weighed heavily on many Americans' finances.

Comment: Nothing was learned from the 2008 crisis in part caused by the subprime mortgages in mortgage backed securities because the system is working just fine for the moneyed elite. The system of capitalism implemented in the United States is predatory in nature and is now nearly completely geared toward transferring as much money and power into the hands of the few. The new subprime auto loan problem is just one example of how this system works. Ultimately it seems this predatory capitalistic system will implode under the weight of its own corruption due to its attempt to enslave as many people in debt and the never ending greed that destroys any semblance of a functioning economy.

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Bulb

Assad advisor: Daesh defeat would be easy if Turkey and Saudi Arabia didn't support it


RT
Thu, 25 Feb 2016 18:29 UTC
Dr. Bouthaina Shaaban
© ReutersDr. Bouthaina Shaaban, media and political advisor to the Syrian presidency.
Money and resources flowing to Islamic State from regional players make it more difficult to fight terrorism, an adviser to Syria's president told RT, adding that the political dialogue has also been thwarted by opposition groups backed by foreign states.

"For five years they [Syrian opposition] have not been able to have a dialogue, because each party of this opposition belongs to a different country and is paid by different countries. They are not an opposition that have a political party in Syria and that have grown from the Syrian people. This is the only opposition in the world that are agents of foreign countries against their own country," Bashar Assad's political adviser, Bouthaina Shaaban, said in an interview with RT.

Direct talks between the opposition and the government will be held "whenever the opposition is able to get together and be at the table," she said, adding that while the government is ready for dialogue, their opponents have so far failed to even agree on their own delegation.


Comment: Further reading:

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Attention

Iraqi militia seize ISIS chemical weapons stockpile in Ramadi


RT
Thu, 25 Feb 2016 17:42 UTC
ISIS chemical weapons
© Mohamad Bayoush / Reuters
Iraqi militia fighters have captured two locations with vast deposits of highly toxic agents used by Islamic State terrorists to arm mortar shells and rockets, potentially for use against civilian targets.

A sweep of the industrial area of the city of Ramadi in central Iraq, which a short while ago was controlled by Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISISL) militants, brought more evidence that the terror group is waging chemical warfare on Iraqi militia and civilians.

Officers of the volunteer corps discovered two warehouses with stockpiles of plastic canisters containing Vinyltrichlorosilane (designated as "Corrosive" UN 1305), a caustic chemical capable of causing serious injury.
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Newspaper

Sanity prevails? Turkish court rules rights of detained Cumhuriyet editors were violated, release expected


RT
Thu, 25 Feb 2016 17:24 UTC
Can Dundar
© Murad Sezer / ReutersCan Dundar, editor-in-chief of the Cumhuriyet newspaper.
Turkey's constitutional court has ruled that the rights of two prominent editors from independent Cumhuriyet newspaper were violated when they were arrested. Their release is expected imminently, the newspaper's acting editor-in-chief told Reuters.

"The constitutional court has ruled that there is a rights violation. An immediate appeal will be made...We are expecting their release," said Tahir Ozyurt, the newspaper's acting editor-in-chief.

Comment: Erdogan will not be happy. His grip on power may be on the decline.

Will the military comply? Turkey's former intelligence head concerned with Erdogan's Syria policies

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