Puppet MastersS


War Whore

South China Sea tension rises: China angrily reacts to US Navy destroyer passing close to artificial islands


RT
Tue, 27 Oct 2015 16:21 UTC
Image
© John Hageman / ReutersThe US Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Lassen
China has slammed the US for ignoring repeated warnings and allowing one of its destroyers to sail close to artificial islands created by Beijing in the South China Sea. It said the USS Lassen's actions "damage peace and stability in the region."

"These actions of the US warship are a threat to the sovereignty and security of China, and safety of people living on the islands; they damage peace and stability in the region. In this regard, the Chinese side expresses extreme dissatisfaction and strongly protests," the statement posted on China's Foreign Ministry website says, according to Interfax.

A US defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AP on Monday that a US Navy ship had sailed near the artificial islands. The Navy was planning to send one of its destroyers on a patrol route that goes within 12 sea miles of the islands, previous reports stated. The US vessel could have been accompanied by one or two US Navy surveillance planes, which have repeatedly conducted reconnaissance flights in the area, an unnamed US official told Reuters. According to the US Navy, additional patrols could follow in the coming weeks.

The USS Lassen destroyer was scheduled to pass by the Subi and Mischief reefs, which belong to the Spratly archipelago, over which China claims sovereignty. Both reefs were initially submerged before China took up an ambitious dredging project aimed at turning them into islands.

Comment: The US seems to want to test the Chinese every so often with these kinds of provocative maneuvers. The Chinese are nobody's fool, they know the US doesn't want them to regain control of such a strategic area. But despite this provocation there is very little the US can do to stop China from doing exactly that no matter how many naval destroyers they buzz past the islands. This issue has been building up for many months now:

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Ambulance

Another Doctors Without Borders hospital bombed! This one in Yemen by Saudi-led coalition


UPI
Tue, 27 Oct 2015 15:46 UTC
yemen doctors without borders hospital
© MSFDoctors Without Borders on Tuesday said that one of its health centers in northern Yemen was bombed overnight by the military coalition led by Saudi Arabia. One patient was burned and scratched and another was in critical condition because of the hasty evacuation.
Doctors Without Borders on Tuesday said one of its health centers in northern Yemen was bombed overnight by a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia. The group, known officially as Médecins Sans Frontières or MSF, said the health center in the Haydan district of Yemen's Saada province, bordering Saudi Arabia, was targeted with at least two airstrikes at about 11 p.m. Monday, The New York Times reported.

About 12 patients and MSF staff members were inside the health center at the time of the strike and successfully evacuated between the two strikes. One patient was burned and scratched, and another was in critical condition because of the hasty evacuation. MSF said it had supplied the health center's coordinates to the Saudi Arabian coalition, which has been fighting against insurgent Houthi rebels in Yemen for about seven months. The health center is one of few operating medical facilities in Saada.

The bombing incident in Yemen follows the U.S. bombing of an MSF medical facility in Afghanistan, where at least 30 patients and staff members died. MSF has called for the International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission, created under the Geneva Conventions, to investigate.
"It is unacceptable that the bombing of a hospital and the killing of staff and patients can be dismissed as collateral damage or brushed aside as a mistake," MSF International President Dr. Joanne Liu recently said at a press conference. "This was not just an attack on our hospital. It was an attack on the Geneva Conventions. This cannot be tolerated."

Comment: Saudia Arabia had the information from MSF about the hospital's location, but bombed anyway. Saudia Arabia appears to be taking the same indiscriminate bombing policy as the United States.

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Crusader

Russia vs. US proxy army ISIS: The coming Battle of Aleppo is likely major turning point

Pepe Escobar
RT
Mon, 26 Oct 2015 02:46 UTC
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem and Sergei Lavrov
© Pool/ReutersSyrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem (L) and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov enter a hall before the talks in Moscow, January 17, 2014.
Once again, whatever hangs in the future for Syria on both the political and military fronts depends on the new Battle of Aleppo. The city and its outskirts, with the influx of internal refugees, may be harboring up to three million people by now.

It's always about Aleppo.

Here's what's going on, essentially, on the ground. West Aleppo is controlled by Damascus, via the Syrian Arab Army (SAA).

Some of the northern parts are controlled by the Kurds from the PYD - which are way more engaged in fighting ISIS/ISIL/Daesh than Damascus. The PYD also happens to be considered an objective ally by the Obama administration and the Pentagon, much to the disgust of Turkey's 'Sultan' Erdogan.

East Aleppo is the key. It is controlled by the so-called Army of Conquest, which includes Jabhat al-Nusra, a.k.a. Al-Qaeda in Syria, and the Salafi outfit Ahrar al-Sham. Other eastern parts are controlled by the "remnants" (copyright Donald Rumsfeld) of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), who refused to collaborate with the Army of Conquest.

Across the Beltway, all of the above are somewhat considered "moderate rebels."

The most important recent development in the Aleppo battlefield is that the SAA - with key Russian help - has killed Jabhat al-Nusra leader Abu Suleiman al-Masri, a.k.a. Mahmud Maghwari, an Egyptian who's been on Cairo's kill list for ages.
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Megaphone

Assange: Refugee crisis part of strategy by Assad opponents to destabilize country


RT
Tue, 27 Oct 2015 13:44 UTC
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© Leonhard Foeger / ReutersA group of refugees wait to enter a makeshift camp at the Austrian Slovenian border near the village of Sentilj, Slovenia, October 26, 2015
The flooding of Europe by countless waves of refugees may be the result of the "strategic depopulation" of Syria carried out by opponents of the country's government, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has suggested.

Transparency organization WikiLeaks has looked through its diplomatic cables and unearthed "an interesting speculation about the refugee movement," Assange said in an interview with Geek news site, ThePressProject.

"So, the speculation was this: Occasionally opponents of a country would engage in strategic depopulation, which is to decrease the fighting capacity of a government," he explained.

The whistleblower pointed out that "it's predominantly the middle class that is fleeing" Syria on account of having "language skills, money, some connections." Engineers, managers and civil servants are "precisely, the classes that ...[are] needed to keep the government functioning," he said.

Comment: One has to be psychopathic to use the lives of hundreds of thousands of people as part of a strategy to control a separate country. Refugees are dying trying to escape conditions that were created not by the Syrian government, but by Western governments, primarily the US government. They have blood on their hands, and anyone who supports them does too.

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Cards

Put up or shut up: Moscow demands US-led coalition in Syria 'prove or deny' allegations Russia is 'bombing civilians'


RT
Tue, 27 Oct 2015 15:30 UTC
russian fighter jet
© Russian Ministry of Defense / RIA Novosti
The Russian Ministry of Defense has summoned military attaches of NATO countries and Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, asking the officials to clarify their countries' allegations that Russian airstrikes in Syria have hit civilian targets.

"Today we invited military attaches from the US, Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the NATO bloc to ask them to give official validation to their statements, or make a rebuttal," Defense Ministry deputy head Anatoly Antonov said on Tuesday.

It particularly touches upon Western media's "outrageous accusations" that the Russian Air Force has allegedly bombed hospitals in Syria, the military official said.

Information attacks on Moscow's anti-terror efforts in the region have intensified recently, Antonov said, adding that the Russian military is "blamed not only for conducting airstrikes on the 'moderate opposition,' but also on civilian buildings, such as hospitals, mosques and schools."

The MoD official stressed that such blame is put upon Russia not only by the media, but also officials and politicians from a number of Western states, including US Secretary of State John Kerry, US Department of Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, NATO's Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, and the UK's and France's top military officials Michael Fallon and Jean-Yves Le Drian.

Allegations will be considered "stove-piping" should Russia not receive proof in the next following days, Antonov said, adding that the Defense Ministry "closely monitors and analyzes such statements."

Comment: Stove-piping is a military slang term for intelligence "selectively presenting only that information that supports certain conclusions." The Empire would never do that, would they?

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Bad Guys

Islamic State terrorists claims to blowing up 3 captives tied to ancient Palmyra columns


RT
Tue, 27 Oct 2015 15:32 UTC
Image
© Gustau Nacarino / ReutersA general view shows the ancient Temple of Bel in the historical city of Palmyra, Syria.
Islamic State terrorists have reportedly executed three people in the historic site of Palmyra by binding them to ancient columns and blowing them up, simultaneously inflicting terrible damage to the Roman-era Syrian city ruins.

The terrorist group "tied three individuals it had arrested from Palmyra and its outskirts to the columns... and executed them by blowing up" the columns, Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, claimed.

The execution reportedly took place on Sunday. The names, affiliation, or the offense of the three condemned individuals have not been revealed.

Comment: It will be difficult to ascertain if this execution was actually carried out. What would ISIL gain by doing this?

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Play

South Front: The U.S. approach in Syria, and Ukraine's age of corruption (VIDEOS)


South Front
Mon, 26 Oct 2015 12:34 UTC
south front
Washington is thinking about creating a no-fly zone in Syria again. According to a new plan, it will be located at the border between Jordan and Syria. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is a main lobbyist of the creation of buffer zones. Despite the fact that Obama's administration has turned back to considering this plan, it will be hardly put into practice. The US security chiefs understand clearly that this plan needs strengthening of the US air and ground forces in Syria, major logistical and technical efforts. The Russian military presence in the region makes this even harder than earlier. Any kind of a no-fly zone in Syria will fuel additional tensions between the two world powers. Another point is that without the US ground contingent, this zone will be controlled by the US local allies whose elites at least partly support terrorists in Syria. Despite the US pivot of Turkey noticed by SouthFront: Analysis & Intelligence in the recent videos, the situation remains complicated. At least, Turkey elites aren't the only power which can support terrorists in Syria.

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Attention

Best of the Web: Alternate reality? CNN broadcasts U.S. Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard telling the truth about Syria


Sott.net
Wed, 21 Oct 2015 12:21 UTC
gabbard
© AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
Did we all recently wake up in an alternate universe?! Speaking with Wolf Blitzer on CNN recently, Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard explained why the US allying with Islamist extremists to overthrow Syrian President Assad is an illegal, counter-productive war that will cause even more human misery in the region and help ISIS and other Islamist extremists take over all of Syria, which is exactly what Putin and Russia have been saying since the get-go.

Instead of once again trying to get rid of a secular leader, Tulsi explains, the US must stay out of counter-productive wars and focus on defeating the 'Islamist' extremists who have declared war on humanity. It's reassuring to see at least one member of Congress with a functioning brain. While the whole truth is that those 'Islamists' are predominantly CIA assets, Tulsi Gabbard pretty much told it like it is. If only there were more like her...

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Stock Up

Assad calls on Russian business to help re-build Syria


RT
Tue, 27 Oct 2015 10:03 UTC
Syria natural gas plant
© Khaled al-Hariri / ReutersA employee works in the Ebla natural gas plant near Homs, northeast of Damascus, April 22, 2010.
Syrian President Bashar Assad has called on Russian companies to work in Syria to help restore the war-torn country.

"Assad specifically underlined that in rebuilding Syria, the Syrian people rely on Russia's help. He urged all [Russian - Ed.] companies to do business with Syria," Russian Communist Party member Alexander Yushchenko told RIA Novosti. The announcement followed the arrival of a delegation of Russian Parliament members in Damascus last week.

Assad proposed intensifying Russia-Syria cooperation in the oil sector, according to Yushchenko. He added that the two countries currently have contracts for exploration of oil fields on the [Mediterranean] shelf, saying that there are many other projects that Moscow and Damascus are ready to develop.

Comment: Also see: 'The jig is up' - Assad's visit to Moscow sends another serious message to the U.S.

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Bomb

Stunningly evil: Saudi airstrikes hit Doctors without Borders in Yemen


Sputnik
Tue, 27 Oct 2015 09:56 UTC
Image
© AFP 2015/ FAYEZ NURELDINE
A Saudi-led airstrike has hit a hospital run by medical aid group Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF) in the Yemeni city of Saada, Reuters reports citing the group's statement.


The Saudi-led coalition conducted several airstrikes in Yemen Monday night. Patients and staff of the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) hospital were inside the building when it was hit by the airstrike.

Comment: Saudi Arabia and the US have each bombed a Doctors Without Borders hospital in the past month. Stopped by Russia from waging a war of atrocities in Syria, they immediately turn around and murder the innocent and vulnerable. Also see:

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