Puppet MastersS


Bomb

Syrian forces retake major ISIS supply and communication routes


Sputnik
Thu, 21 Jan 2016 11:41 UTC
Syrian Army
© AFP 2016/ GEORGE OURFALIAN
The Syrian forces together with units of the people's militia cut off Daesh communication routes from al-Mansur al-Miass and al- Karyateyn areas, destroying a large number of terrorists, official representative of the Syrian Armed Forces Brigadier General Ali Mayhub said on Wednesday.

The Syrian Armed Forces in cooperation with the national militia killed more than 40 terrorists in areas of Jabhurin and Tallaff, Mayhub added.

"Syrian Armed Forces in conjunction with the forces of the national militia took control of two mountains, Mhin Al-Kabir and Mhin Al Sagyr, district warehouses, settlements Mhin, villages Hauvarin and Al Hadas, commanding heights along the road Al Mhassa — Al Karyateyn cutting the most important communication of Daesh in the direction of Al-Mankura- Al Mhassa — Al Karyateyn. During the fighting a large number of terrorists, weapons and military equipment were destroyed," Mayhub elaborated.

Comment: Further reading: South Front: Heavy clashes between SAA and ISIS in Deir Ezzor (VIDEOS)

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Stormtrooper

'Recapturing' digital space: ISIS should be cornered to dark web, Google says


RT
Wed, 20 Jan 2016 04:39 UTC
Google
© Jason Lee / Reuters
In order to defeat Islamic State propaganda online, it needs to be pushed to the sidelines of the dark web, Jared Cohen, director of Google Ideas, has said.

Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) needs to be made to fear being caught when posting messages online, which will help us to "recapture digital territory" from the terror organization, Cohen said while giving a talk on'Waging a Digital Counter insurgency' at Chatham House, an international affairs think tank based in London.
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Bad Guys

US legislation permitted ISIS expansion in Afghanistan


Sputnik
Thu, 21 Jan 2016 03:21 UTC
ISIS
President Barack Obama is rectifying a previous mistake by reportedly approving the targeting of Daesh militants in Afghanistan, US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker said in a statement. Corker recently returned from his fifth visit to Afghanistan on January 7 - 8, where he met with US and Afghan officials to assess the current state of US security and assistance efforts, the statement noted.

"I'm glad the administration is using the legal authority it already has to combat ISIS [Islamic State] in Afghanistan," Corker stated on Wednesday. "It has been a mistake to target al-Qaeda, but not ISIS in Afghanistan — a mistake that has permitted ISIS to expand its reach and influence."

Corker noted that any further drawdown of allied forces in Afghanistan would create even bigger risks for the Afghan people, the region, as well as for US national security.

"[T]he president should make clear our continued commitment... to sustain the current force in Afghanistan," he added.

The Daesh is a designated terrorist organization outlawed in the United States and Russia as well as in numerous other countries.

Comment: It's no mistake that the US hasn't been targeting ISIS in Afghanistan. Russia has put the spotlight on the United States' phony 'war on terror' and now the US is scrambling to shore up loose ends. We can be certain, though, that no legislation will change their behavior.

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Dollars

War on Cash escalates: China readies digital currency as IMF approves

Tyler Durden
Zerohedge
Wed, 20 Jan 2016 02:25 UTC
no cash symbol
Remember when Bitcoin and its digital currency cohorts were slammed by authorities and written off by the elite as worthless? Well now, as the war on cash escalates, officials from The IMF to China are seeing the opportunity to control the world's money through virtual (cash-less) currencies. Just as we warned most recently here, state wealth control is the goal and, as Bloomberg reports, The PBOC is targeting an early rollout of China's own digital currency to "boost control of money" and none other than The IMF's Christine Lagarde added that "virtual currencies are extremely beneficial."

By way of background, as we explained previously, What exactly does a "war on cash" mean?
It means governments are limiting the use of cash and a variety of official-mouthpiece economists are calling for the outright abolition of cash. Authorities are both restricting the amount of cash that can be withdrawn from banks, and limiting what can be purchased with cash.
These limits are broadly called "capital controls."

Comment: Also read: Two phases in the War on Cash

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Bomb

Message from Washington to Moscow? Seven dead after 'Islamic terrorists' detonate car bomb near Russian embassy in Kabul


RT
Wed, 20 Jan 2016 18:22 UTC
Kabul suicide bombing
© Via twitter@zakariahassani4Blast pictures from Kabul
At least seven people have been killed in a suicide car bomb explosion that struck near the Russian embassy in Kabul. A terrorist was apparently targeting a van carrying local journalists, Afghan officials say.

At least 20 more people, including women and children, were injured in the incident, Reuters reported citing Ismail Kawusi, a spokesman of the Ministry of Public Health. Earlier, Afghan Deputy Minister of Interior Muhammad Ayoub Salangi earlier tweeted that four people had been killed and 24 were injured.

The suicide car bomb attack took place on Darul Aman road, according to embassy spokesman Aleksey Kosarev. He said there were no casualties among the embassy staff.

Comment: 'Suicide bomber', whatever.

There is no way "Afghan officials" or anyone else can discern right away that any given explosion is the result of a 'suicide bomber'.

Far more likely, given its proximity to the Russian embassy, is that this was a carefully placed message from the US to Russia:

'Don't even THINK about coming in to clean up OUR Afghanistan!'

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Attention

Israeli defense minister would 'prefer ISIS' in open conflict over Iran


RT
Wed, 20 Jan 2016 19:01 UTC
Anti-aircraft missile S-200
© Iran's Army / Reuters
Israel continues to express bitter sentiment over the diplomatic victory that secured the nuclear accord with Tehran: The country's defense minister stated that Tehran's nuclear ambitions and "terror infrastructure" are a bigger threat than Islamic State.

Speaking at the Institute for National Security Studies' (INSS) conference in Tel Aviv, Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon stressed that "Iran is our main enemy," and if he were to choose between Iran and Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) in an open conflict, he would "prefer ISIS."

Comment: More from the Times of Israel:
Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon said Tuesday that Iran poses a greater threat than the Islamic State, and that if the Syrian regime were to fall, Israel would prefer that IS was in control of the territory than an Iranian proxy. "In Syria, if the choice is between Iran and the Islamic State, I choose the Islamic State. They don't have the capabilities that Iran has," Ya'alon told a conference held by the Institute of National Security Studies in Tel Aviv. ... "Iran determines future of Syria and if it leads to perpetuation, Iranian hegemony in Syria will be huge challenge for Israel," he said. The defense minister also characterized the conflict in Syria and Iraq as the "height of the clash of civilizations."
He's kind of right. But Israel represents the same kind of 'civilization' as that of ISIS.
"Many in the West refuse to acknowledge this — won't even say 'radical Islam,'" Ya'alon said. "Of course not every Muslim is a terrorist, but most terrorists in the world today are Muslim. We can't ignore that."
Nonsense. Most Muslim terrorists are Muslim, by definition. There are plenty of non-Muslim terrorists. Ya'alon represents many of them. There are probably few countries whose leadership would openly state that they prefer head-chopping, liver-eating, slave-owning torturers, killers and rapists. But that's just how Israel rolls, we suppose.

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Cowboy Hat

Lavrov says 'we'll fight ISIS until its complete annihilation' after Kerry talks


RT
Wed, 20 Jan 2016 18:51 UTC
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry shakes hands with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov before their meeting on Syria, in Zurich, Switzerland, January 20, 2016
© Jacquelyn Martin / ReutersU.S. Secretary of State John Kerry shakes hands with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov before their meeting on Syria, in Zurich, Switzerland, January 20, 2016.
Islamic State and the Nusra Front won't be part of the proposed Syrian ceasefire as the fight against the jihadists will go on until their complete annihilation, Russian FM Sergey Lavrov and his US counterpart, John Kerry, agreed during talks in Zurich.

"The main thing is that we came to an unambiguous conclusion that the UN Security Council Resolution 2254 will remain the main basis for us to move forward," Lavrov told journalists in Switzerland.

During the negotiations, the two diplomats "discussed practical steps to ensure the conditions for a ceasefire" in Syria in accordance with the UN resolution, the Russian foreign minister added.

The truce "wouldn't apply to terrorist organizations Islamic State and the Nusra Front (Jabhat al-Nusra)," he stressed.

"They can't be subject to an agreement on a ceasefire as they remain our enemies. And we'll continue to fight them until their complete annihilation," Lavrov stressed.
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Gold Seal

The 21st Century: An era of US-led fraud, war crimes and propaganda

Paul Craig Roberts
paulcraigroberts.org
Mon, 18 Jan 2016 18:12 UTC
fraud
In the last years of the 20th century fraud entered US foreign policy in a new way. On false pretenses Washington dismantled Yugoslavia and Serbia in order to advance an undeclared agenda. In the 21st century this fraud multiplied many times. Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, and Libya were destroyed, and Iran and Syria would also have been destroyed if the President of Russia had not prevented it. Washington is also behind the current destruction of Yemen, and Washington has enabled and financed the Israeli destruction of Palestine. Additionally, Washington operated militarily within Pakistan without declaring war, murdering many women, children, and village elders under the guise of "combating terrorism." Washington's war crimes rival those of any country in history.

I have documented these crimes in my columns and books (Clarity Press). Anyone who still believes in the purity of Washington's foreign policy is a lost soul.

Russia and China now have a strategic alliance that is too strong for Washington. Russia and China will prevent Washington from further encroachments on their security and national interests. Those countries important to Russia and China will be protected by the alliance. As the world wakes up and sees the evil that the West represents, more countries will seek the protection of Russia and China.
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Stock Down

Good is bad and bad is good: How the Fed manipulates the markets and caused the recent stock market slide

Mike Whitney
Counterpunch
Tue, 19 Jan 2016 17:28 UTC
stock market crash
When the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) and S&P peaked in May 2015, investors were still confident that the Fed "had their back" and that any steep or prolonged downturn in stocks would be met with additional liquidity and a firm commitment to maintain zero rates as long as necessary. But now that the Fed has started its long-awaited rate-hike cycle, investors aren't sure what to expect.

This growing uncertainty coupled with flagging earnings reports have factored heavily in Wall Street's recent selloff. Unless the Fed is able to restore confidence by promising to take steps that support the markets, stocks are going to continue get hammered by economic data that's bound to deteriorate as 2016 drags on.

For the last few years, investors have relied on the so called "Bernanke Put" to prevent significant stock losses while the real economy continued to sputter and underperform. The moniker refers to the way the Fed adds liquidity to the markets during periods of stress to put a floor under stocks. Investors have been so confident in this safety-net system that they've dumped trillions of dollars into equities even though underlying fundamentals have remained weak and the economy has sputtered along at an anemic 2 percent per year. Investors believed the Central Bank could move stocks higher, and they were right.
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Bizarro Earth

Stark raving mad: Bankrupt Kiev expands 'trade embargo' against Russia (5th largest economy on Earth)


RT
Wed, 20 Jan 2016 14:41 UTC
IMF Ukraine
'Under management'
The Ukrainian government on Wednesday added about 70 food items to the list of banned goods imported from Russia. Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk explained the move as 'Kiev's counter-measure' to Moscow's food embargo. "We will further defend our market," said Yatsenyuk. He also suggested expanding the list of sanctioned Russian individuals and entities. Ukraine's Ministry of Economy and Trade has issued a list of food products from Russia the import of which was banned from January 10, 2016 until August 5, 2016. The list includes bakery goods, pastries, chocolates, meat, fish, coffee, black tea, cigarettes, beer, and other products.

Trade restrictions were also introduced in response to Moscow cancelling a free trade agreement with Ukraine. On Tuesday, Kiev said Russia's ban on Ukrainian products undermined the World Trade Organization rules, and that Ukraine plans to raise the issue at a WTO meeting in February. According to Russian Economic Development Minister Aleksey Ulyukaev, Moscow's measures do not violate WTO rules.

In December Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law suspending the free trade agreement with Ukraine as of January 1, 2016. Putin said Kiev's move to open its borders with the EU compromised Russia's interests and economic security. The Russian government has expressed concerns that without such a barrier, Ukraine could illegally supply the country with embargoed European goods.

Comment: The prime minister of an economy that is all but clinically dead and is being 'managed' by a US-led consortium, wants to complain at the WTO about Russia's lawful attempts to protect itself against unilaterally-imposed US sanctions - sanctions that are in violation of the WTO's core principles?

Good luck with that, Yats.

yats
Yatsen-yukkety-yuk
See also:

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