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Light Sabers

China arms South China Sea island with surface-to-air missile systems


RT
Wed, 17 Feb 2016 17:59 UTC
Spratly Islands
© HO / ReutersChinese dredging vessels seen in the waters around Mischief Reef in the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea
China has reportedly put surface-to-air missile systems on one of the disputed South China Sea Islands, as tensions rise in the region over sovereignty claims. Beijing says its defense facilities won't impede navigation or over-flight freedom in the area.

Satellite images taken by ImageSat International, and aired on Fox news, show two HQ-9 air defense system batteries of eight missile launchers, which have a range of about 200km, and a radar system on Woody Island. Dated February 14, one image showed Chinese hardware, whereas an image dated February 3 didn't show any installations.

On Wednesday, at a news conference with his Australian counterpart, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi said: "The limited and necessary self-defense facilities China has built on islands and reefs by Chinese personnel is consistent with the self-defense and self-preservation China is entitled to under international law."

Commander of the US Pacific Command, Admiral Harry Harris, told a briefing in Tokyo on Wednesday that deployment of advanced Chinese air defenses in the region "would be a clear indication of militarization."
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Newspaper

Best of the Web: Russian FM spokeswoman on RT: 'We did not bomb children's hospital in Syria - This is Western propaganda'


RT
Wed, 17 Feb 2016 17:37 UTC
Anissa Naouai and Maria Zakharova
© RT
The host of RT's InTheNow show asked the Russian Foreign Ministry's spokeswoman some tough questions during a 26-minute interview.

Anissa Naouai wanted to know if Russian media are following a narrative from the Kremlin to counter BBC and CNN propaganda, and what is the difference between Russia supporting the Syrian opposition to the US doing the same.

Comment: Great interview showing the common sense of Russian media versus the western propaganda drive.

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Jet2

Mountains and molehills: UK scrambles jets to intercept Russian jets in international airspace


RT
Wed, 17 Feb 2016 17:46 UTC
jets
© Darren Staples / Reuters
Britain's Ministry of Defence (MoD) has dispatched two RAF Typhoon fighter jets to intercept a pair of Russian bombers heading towards UK airspace.

The MoD confirmed on Wednesday that Typhoons were sent out to escort the two Russian Tupolev Tu-160 Blackjack aircraft away from the UK coastline.

The Russian bombers have not entered UK airspace, but are currently inside the UK's area of interest, a MoD spokesperson said.

The British Typhoons, part of the UK's Quick Reaction Alert system, were dispatched from RAF Coningsby, Lincolnshire, and are escorting the bombers toward the North Sea, according to Sky News.

This is the latest in a spate of recent incidents where British jets were scrambled to intercept Russian bombers skirting UK airspace.

Comment: This isn't the first time:

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Vader

Here's what's really behind EU's lifting of sanctions on Belarus: Only one villain needed

Marko Marjanović
Russia Insider
Wed, 17 Feb 2016 17:42 UTC
Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko (left) meets Russian president Vladimir Putin
© IB Times
EU has lifted its 12-year sanctions on Russia's neighbor Belarus. Belarus then must have done something pretty extraordinary to warrant the change of such a long-standing policy, right? EU itself said so, it explained its decision by giving some nonsense about Lukashenko now playing a 'constructive role in the region' and organizing elections 'free of violence'.

In fact that is all a bunch of baloney. Belarus and Lukashenko are exactly as they always were. The real tectonic shift that has caused this EU reversal is the new Cold War between Brussels and Moscow.
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Magnify

The US proposed Syrian ceasefire is not about bringing peace to Syria

Finian Cunningham
RT
Sun, 14 Feb 2016 22:39 UTC
Kerry Lavrov de Mistura ISSG meeting
© Michael Dalder / ReutersRussian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and UN Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura (L-R) attend a news conference after the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) meeting in Munich, Germany, February 12, 2016
An end to the Syrian conflict is desperately needed. But the latest plan for a cessation of violence is unlikely to take hold, as the deal struck by international powers is based on fundamentally opposing premises.

In short, Washington and its allies want regime change, while Russia and Iran insist that President Bashar Assad and his government are the legitimate ruling authorities in Syria. All sides are mandated by UN resolutions to respect the sovereign will of the Syrian people - to determine the political future of their country.

But the Western powers and their regional partners, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar in particular, are insisting - explicitly or implicitly - on their objective of ousting Assad. This premise of unlawful interference in the affairs of a sovereign state is the crux of the problem, and why the latest seeming agreement for a nationwide truce is as thin as the paper it is written on.

US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced the proposal for a cessation of hostilities following six hours of negotiations with 15 other member states belonging to the International Syria Support Group in Munich last Friday. The truce is supposed to come into effect later this week.

The truce outlined in an ISSG communique does not apply to two militant groups: Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIL/ISIL or Daesh) and the Jabhat al Nusra Front. Both are linked to Al Qaeda and are officially listed by international governments as terrorist organizations. The provision also exempts "other terror groups" but does not specify the names. This is a major loophole in the proposed truce deal which will make its application extremely problematic if not infeasible. That loophole also alludes to the foreign-backed nature of the conflict in Syria.

Comment: Indeed, the US is not interested in peace. It wishes to maintain the chaos unleashed in the region and needs a 'ceasefire' to regroup after their proxy terror armies have been shellacked by Russia and the Syrian Army.

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War Whore

Turkey wants 10km secure zone within northern Syria created


RT
Wed, 17 Feb 2016 17:42 UTC
turkish military
© Umit Bektas / Reuters
Turkey wants to create a secure zone 10km within Syria, which would include the town of Azaz, Deputy Prime Minister Yalcin Akdogan stated, as cited by Reuters. The move comes after Ankara's shelling of Syrian Kurds for four successive days.

"What we want is to create a secure strip, including Azaz, 10km deep inside Syria and this zone should be free from clashes," Akdogan said in an interview on Turkey's AHaber television station, Reuters reports.

However, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan mentioned on Wednesday that Ankara does not intend to stop shelling Syrian Kurdish YPG militia. He also called on the US to choose whether it wanted to back Turkey or the Syrian Kurds.

Turkey has shelled Syrian Kurdish forces in northern Syria for four consecutive days as Ankara tries to stop the YPG (Kurdish People's Protection Units) from claiming the town of Azaz, just 8km from the Turkish border.


Comment: The likely reason for this is that Turkey wants to create a secure zone where it can safely deal with the terrorists within Syria, from selling arms to buying oil and treating the wounded.

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War Whore

"American warplanes destroyed it": Russia rejects Turkey claim on MSF hospital missile strike


Telesurtv.net
Tue, 16 Feb 2016 00:00 UTC
Syria hospital bombing
© ReutersPeople gather near what is said to be a hospital damaged by missile attacks in Azaz, Aleppo, Syria, February 15, 2016 in this still image taken from a video on a social media website.
"The Caspian Sea fleet has no ships capable of launches of ballistic missiles," a Russian Defense spokesperson said.

Russian officials have rejected accusations by Turkey that Russia was responsible for an attack on a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Syria that killed scores of people a day earlier.

A Ministry of Defense spokesperson, Igor Konashenkov, said Tuesday that Russia has no ships in the Caspian Sea fleet that could have hit the Syrian hospital in Idlib province.

"The Caspian Sea fleet has no ships capable of launches of ballistic missiles," Konashenkov told reporters.

Comment: Just how low can they go in order to demonize Russia?

They're bombing hospitals just so they can say 'Russia did it'.

It's the 'babies in incubators' routine all over again, brought to you by Hill & Knowlton.

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Yoda

Iranian Defense Minister: Russian airstrikes in Syria have shifted the balance of power in the region


RT
Wed, 17 Feb 2016 17:34 UTC
SU-34
© Dmitriy Vinogradov / SputnikSU-34
The Russian anti-terror campaign in Syria has shifted the balance of power in the region, the Iranian Defense Minister said while visiting Moscow, eager to purchase billions of dollars worth of "defensive" weapons to secure its own position in the region.

"Russia's presence in Syria, of course, changed the security atmosphere, [and] changed the balance of power," Hosein Dehghan said in an interview with Rossiya 24 news channel.

Dehghan also stressed that Iran, which has "a unique position in its region" and is a "big, influential regional nation," wants to expand military, technical and industrial ties with Moscow. Iran is also seeking Russia's consultations on the "security of the region."

Calling the security situation in the region and the entire world "turbulent" and characterized by a "lack of stability" with different countries playing "their own role," especially Washington which wants to "destabilize the region," Dehghan stressed that Iran wants to purchase "defensive" weapons from Russia.


Comment: It certainly looks like Iran is going to be getting some of that quality Russian military equipment:

"The most important thing is to raise the level of our security [both] qualitatively and quantitatively, so that we could insure protection against possible attacks of our enemies," Dehghan said.
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Eye 1

Neoconservative lunacy: A strategy of tension for a wider war in Syria

Paul Craig Roberts
Global Research
Sun, 14 Feb 2016 04:37 UTC
dead tank
© n/a
While you are enjoying your Sunday, the insane neoconservatives who control Western foreign policy and their Turkish and Saudi Arabian vassals might be preparing the end of the world.

Any person who relies on Western media has no accurate idea of what is happening in Syria.

I will provide a brief summary and then send you to two detailed accounts.

The neoconservative Obama regime set-up the Syrian government headed by Assad for overthrow. A long propaganda campaign conducted in Washington's behalf by the Western media portrayed the democratically-elected Assad as a "brutal dictator who uses chemical weapons against his own people." Washington organized and supported a front group posing as democrats and involved them in conflict with the Syrian military.

Comment: Also of late:

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Eye 2

IDF soldier who electrocuted blindfolded Palestinian for fun, laughed while filming gets light sentence, keeps job


RT
Wed, 17 Feb 2016 13:55 UTC
IDF soldiers palestine
© Mohamad Torokman / Reuters (file photo)
One soldier from the Netzach Yehuda battalion has been sentenced to seven months in prison for his role in the abuse of a Palestinian detainee who was blindfolded and zapped with electrodes as soldiers laughed and filmed the abuse.

The military trial of four members of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) centred on mobile phone footage showing soldiers laughing as a blindfolded Palestinian man is subjected to electric shocks with a medical device.

The incident was uncovered after authorities, suspicious of abusive treatment towards prisoners, confiscated one of the soldiers' phones, report Mako.

The helpless detainee was also struck by soldiers as the attack was being filmed, reports Israeli news agency Haaretz.

The unnamed soldier will now spend seven months behind bars. He will, however, be allowed to keep his job and is set to be demoted to the rank of private.

IDF officials say they condemn the actions of those involved: "The IDF sees in these extreme incidents a total violation and disregard of the IDF's Code of Conduct and strongly condemns these actions. The court has not yet come to decisions regarding other suspects involved in these extreme incidents."

The sentencing comes after an Israeli border police officer was filmed Sunday flipping a disabled Palestinian man's wheelchair to the ground.

Comment: Nothing speaks to the actual values of the 'most moral army in the world' than events like this one.

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