The Russian Defense Ministry has urged NATO and Saudi Arabia to explain accusations that Russian airstrikes had allegedly targeted hospitals in Syria, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov said Tuesday.

"We have summoned the US, UK, French, German, Italian, Saudi Arabian, Turkish and NATO military attaches today to give a formal explanation of these statements or to refute them. This especially concerns a number of outrageous allegations in the English-speaking media about alleged airstrikes on hospitals," Antonov said.

According to him, information attacks on the Russian Aerospace Forces' actions in Syria have intensified in a number of Western media outlets.

"We are being accused not only of launching airstrikes on 'moderate opposition', but also on civilian targets like hospitals, as well as mosques and schools. As a result, civilians are allegedly killed, according to Western media reports," Antonov added.

With US policy towards ISIS in the doldrums, President Barack Obama is reportedly considering several new strategies to target the terrorist group in Iraq and Syria.

The strategies emerged after discussions which took place over the past few weeks between military field commanders and the president's most senior national security advisers, including Department of Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and Secretary of State John Kerry. The recommendations could alter the military's involvement against the Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIS/ISIL), according to officials who spoke to the Washington Post.

One recommendation would be to move a limited number of Special Operations forces on the ground in Syria and put US advisers closer to the firefights in Iraq. The number of additional troops would be required is unclear, but the officials told the Post the number would be relatively small.

The Pentagon has already sent small Special Operations teams to Syria several times since the war began in 2011. The new proposals would be for Special Operations to work with moderate Syrian Arab rebels and possibly some Kurdish groups, which have recently scored some victories against IS.


If that happens, it would represent a significant escalation of the American role in Iraq and Syria, the Post reported. Officials said the president could make a decision as soon as this week, but that he could also decide not to alter the current course.

Over 500 ISIL militants have been transported from Syria to Yemen aboard planes arriving from Turkey to fight against Houthi rebels, a Syrian general said Tuesday.

Syrian Armed Forces spokesman Brig. Gen. Ali Maihub claimed that more than 500 ISIL militants had been transported from Syria to Yemen aboard 4 planes that had arrived from Turkey on October 26.

According to him, two of the planes belong to Turkish airlines, one is a Qatari aircraft and one is a UEA plane.

"According to the intelligence data, 4 planes arrived from Turkey at the airport of Aden [in Yemen] on October 26. Two of them [planes] belonged to Turkish airlines, one — to Qatar airlines and another aircraft was owned by an UAE airline. More than 500 militants of ISIL terrorist group were on board, they were transported from Syria to save them from Russian airstrikes," Maihub said, according to RIA Novosti.

In any war, collateral damage is inevitable. And no matter how careful Russia attempts to be, one cannot avoid eventually killing innocent civilians. That is why it is so important to make sure any war fought is justified to begin with - so that when a tragic mistake is made it is not compounded by the fact that the war within which it took place shouldn't have been fought in the first place.

Russia's intervention in Syria, however, is justified. The sovereign nation of Syria is openly being dismembered by foreign states, led by the US, joined by Syria's neighbors, Turkey, Israel, and Jordan, as well as regional state-sponsors of terrorism including the despotic regimes of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates.

The potential loss of human life in confronting the proxy army of terrorists this coalition of multinational military aggression has arrayed against Syria pales in comparison to the outcome should Syria fall entirely to these forces. The perpetual chaos that has unfolded after America's successful dismemberment of Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya are but warnings of the fate that could befall Syria should order not be restored, and Syria's sovereignty not protected. What's more is that for each and every nation the US destroys, the terrorist organizations and all accompanying infrastructure that fill the void left behind by toppled governments has an accumulative effect. The strength of this threat and its ability to project violence further increases exponentially.

In that light, Russia's alleged bombing of a "field hospital" in terrorist-held territory in Syria would be a tragic mistake at best... if such an allegation had credible evidence underpinning it. However, it does not.

The committee for accrediting humanitarian missions of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) said on Sunday it had withdrew accreditation from Doctor Without Borders (MSF) over its involvement in espionage and smuggling psychotropic substances.

"The ministry of state security of the Donetsk People's Republic exposed a series of suspicious actions performed by this organization, including collecting defence-related information and conducting psychological trainings among people living near the line of engagement that deliberately disoriented the people," the Donetsk News Agency said on Sunday quoting the commission's statement.

Apart from that, the MSF has been found to supply psychotropic substances which are outlawed in the DPR.

"Such actions of an international organization are a violation of the law and a threat to state security. Having analyzed this information and being guided by its regulations the committee for accrediting humanitarian missions took a decision to deprive the international organization of its accreditation in the republic," the document said.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said earlier it had been notified by a humanitarian committee of the Donetsk People's Republic that its accreditation had been withdrawn and it had been asked to "immediately stop its activities" there.

In the first United Nations vote on a resolution condemning the U.S. embargo against Cuba since the two countries renewed diplomatic ties, the U.N. voted 191-2 in favor of the condemnation.

The only drama was how the United States would vote.

In its statement, the United States said that it couldn't support the resolution because it failed to take into account "the significant steps in the spirit of engagement" undertaken by the United States, and it was disappointed that Cuba had chosen to bring forth a resolution "almost identical" to those of years past.

The United States had to balance its developing relationship with Cuba and President Barack Obama's declaration that he wants to work with Congress to lift the embargo against an awkward and unprecedented stance of not standing in opposition to a resolution contrary to U.S. law.

In his remarks, Cuban Foreign Minister Rodríguez did acknowledge the new relationship with the United States. But he said that "the facts show crystal clear" that the blockade, as Cuba refers to the embargo," is still being "fully and completely implemented."

Tony Blair apologized for the mistakes made by the US and allies in Iraq. Apologized, and everything would be ok if not for the fact that any "mistakes" of the Anglo-Saxons are always paid with other people's blood.

"The former Prime Minister said that those who ousted Saddam Hussein are responsible for the situation in the Middle East.

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair in his interview with CNN, acknowledged that the invasion of the U.S. and its allies in Iraq in 2003 was one of the reasons for the emergence of ISIL and asked for forgiveness [!] for mistakes.

— I apologize for the fact that we received incorrect information from intelligence [i.e., we are not to blame, it's all intelligence!] I also apologize for some errors in the planning and, of course, for our mistake in estimating what will happen once we change the regime, — said the politician. — You can't say that those who ousted Hussein in 2003 are not responsible for the situation in 2015. [Well. Let's extradite Tony and George Bush to the Hague, shall we? How else do you respond to these words?]"

How easy everything is for them. Made a mistake. Apologized. Made a mistake again. Apologized again. Very convenient. Who cares about a million dead civilians, destroyed infrastructure and ISIS tumor. We apologized for that. Opium wars, famines in India and Russia of the first half of the twentieth century - sorry, it was a mistake. Hiroshima and Nagasaki... well, sorry, but the residents are to blame. Why did they live in the cities where we planned to drop the bombs?

This infantile rhetoric basically means only one thing - the denial of the Anglo-Saxon elites from accountability for their actions. In principle, such denial in case of a particular person could be a reason for psychiatrists to declare a person incapacitated.

What to do with the brazen Western elites should be decided at a new Nuremberg (Moscow? Damascus? Baghdad?) tribunal.

Via Blogger @Antiseptic - Translated by Kristina Rus

Following the first ever congressional hearing on "Stingray" cellphone surveillance, new details reveal the Secret Service and the Internal Revenue Service are also using the controversial spying devices.

At a congressional hearing last Wednesday, officials with the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security released new details about the federal government's use of "Stingray" cellphone surveillance. Stingrays, also known as cell site simulators, constitute another example of military tools finding their way into the hands of federal agencies and local police departments across the United States.

According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation:

The Stingray is a brand name of an IMSI (International Mobile Subscriber Identity) Catcher targeted and sold to law enforcement. A Stingray works by masquerading as a cellphone tower - to which your mobile phone sends signals to every 7 to 15 seconds whether you are on a call or not - and tricks your phone into connecting to it. As a result, the government can figure out who, when and to where you are calling, the precise location of every device within the range, and with some devices, even capture the content of your conversations.

In three days of operations, the Russian aviation group in Syria has hit 258 targets belonging to the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra terror groups, the Defense Ministry said.

"Over the past three days, the warplanes of the Russian air group have carried out 164 sorties, hitting 285 targets," Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for the Ministry of Defense, said Monday.

In the past 24 hours, 59 sorties were carried out, targeting 94 terrorist sites in the provinces of Hama, Idlib, Latakia, Damascus, Aleppo and Deir ez-Zor.

Konashenkov said a large ammunition dump belonging to the Jabhat al-Nusra terror group has been destroyed in Syria's Damascus province. The two metallic hangars were razed to the ground as munitions inside them detonated following a direct hit by a Russian bomber.

An historical video that was broadcast in Brazil some decades ago warned, "Lies can be told even when speaking truths." Netflix's new documentary film 'Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom' is a exquisite example. By ignoring fundamental details of Ukraine's history and of the composition of the 2013-early 2014 political movement in Ukraine called 'Maidan' (or 'Euromaidan'), the documentary's half-truths pave the way to disconcerting lies. Here are some of those:

The Ukrainian people

Right at the documentary's beginning, it is stated that "while the people of Ukraine were looking to the West, the leader [President Yanukovych] was looking to the East."

The statement, at first innocent, ignores Ukraine's history and the characteristics of its people. Ukraine is the result of a complex ethnic formation, stemming from numerous conflicts between nations and ethnic groups that have ruled or resided on the territory since the fifth century. Not coincidentally, the word Ukraine actually means 'borderland'. It has always been a conflictual territory. Such a formation would obviously end up with divided historical interpretations and political scenarios.

According to data from a 2012 USAID survey, 37% of Ukrainians were in favor of the country adopting closer ties with Russia while 27% thought it would be better to draw closer to the European Union. Twenty six per cent said it was important to maintain economic relations with both. In other words: the "Ukrainian people" have very different thoughts about the EU.