Puppet MastersS


Target

Don't write them off: The Syrian army's offensive against ISIS is gaining ground with Putin forcing ISIS into retreat

Robert Fisk
The Independent
Mon, 19 Oct 2015 20:25 UTC
Image
© GettyA Syrian army soldier flashes a 'V for victory' sign as his tank travels northeast of Damascus
While the world still rages on at Russia's presumption in the Middle East - to intervene in Syria instead of letting the Americans decide which dictators should survive or die - we've all been forgetting the one institution in that Arab land which continues to function and protect the state which Moscow has decided to preserve: the Syrian army. While Russia has been propagandising its missiles, the Syrian military, undermanned and undergunned a few months ago, has suddenly moved on to the offensive. Earlier this year, we may remember, this same army was being written off, the Bashar al-Assad government said to be reaching its final days.

We employed our own army of clichés to make the case for regime change. The Syrian army was losing ground - at Jisr al-Shugour and at Palmyra - and so we predicted that the whole Assad state had reached a "tipping point".

Then along came Vladimir Putin with his air and missile fleets and suddenly the whole place is transformed. While we huffed and puffed that the Russians were bombing the "moderate" rebels - moderates who had earlier ceased to exist according to America's top generals - we've been paying no attention to the military offensive which the Syrians themselves are now staging against the Nusra Front fighters around Aleppo and in the valley of the Orontes.
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Bomb

U.S. silently bombing Syria's electricity network - why?


Moon of Alabama
Mon, 19 Oct 2015 19:27 UTC
aleppo castle
© REUTERS/Asmaa WaguihThe Aleppo castle where pro-government forces are based is seen in the Old Town of Aleppo, November 2, 2012, as clashes continue with the Free Syrian Army.
The Aleppo power plant is a 1,000 megawatt thermal plant in five units build by Mitsubishi Heavy Industry in 1995-1998. It is situated some 25 kilometers east of Aleppo city center. During the fighting around Aleppo various electricity distribution stations were damaged and electricity in parts of the city has become scarce and unpredictable. But the main power station had so far not been hit.

The plant is in the hands of the Islamic State but there is an informal agreement between the government, which controls the distribution network, and those who hold the power generating station:
[T]he agreement of understanding pertains to the division of the electricity supply between the parties, whereby ISIS will receive 60% of the quota and the Syrian regime will receive 40%.
Both sides will have some electricity and the civilian as well as fighters on both side will be better off than without electricity. No side has a motive to destroy that plant.

Comment: See also:

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Gold Seal

Best of the Web: Dr. Strangelove is naked: Putin's campaign in Syria smashes the empire's plans for "Greater Middle East"

Pepe Escobar
RT
Tue, 20 Oct 2015 18:34 UTC
Image
© Ciro De Luca / Reuters
The whole Global South is now informed about how the Russian campaign in Syria has swiftly smashed all of 'Exceptionalistan's' elaborate plans for a "Greater Middle East."

These plans span everything from the Wolfowitz Doctrine to Dr. Zbig "Grand Chessboard" Brzezinski's categorical imperative of preventing the emergence of a strategic competitor across Eurasia.

But the subtext is even more intriguing: The Pentagon never saw it coming. And they are absolutely terrified of the inevitable consequences.

The panic was palpable, as relayed by Dr. Strangelove, sorry, NATO's top commander Gen. Philip Breedlove, a.k.a. Breedlove/hate, the man who announces every week Russia is invading Ukraine.

Although proverbially handicapped in his geopolitical analysis - Russia wants to hinder US and "coalition" operations in the region - Breedlove/hate is clearly puzzled by the new, unforeseen, intricate layers of Russia's defense network.

In his own words: "We're a little worried about another A2/AD bubble being created in the eastern Mediterranean." In Pentagonese, A2/AD means anti-access/area denial.

Translation: a mix of surface-to-air missiles and anti-ship missiles that can be deployed to prevent any player from entering or crossing a certain area.

Comment: Putin has the grand planners in the Pentagon totally flummoxed. One has to wonder if they ever stopped to consider that anyone would ever have the gall to challenge them. Well, they don't have to worry about that anymore, because Putin absolutely is not backing down.

See also:

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Vader

Liberal Party wins Canada in landslide federal election on phony anti-austerity vow

Keith Jones
World Socialist Web Site
Tue, 20 Oct 2015 17:52 UTC
Image
© AFPSupporters of Canadian Liberal party leader Justin Trudeau cheer as results show the Liberals ahead in the general elections in Montreal on October 19, 2015
The Liberal Party, which has long been Canadian big business's preferred party of national government, will be returning to power for the first time in a decade after winning a sweeping victory in yesterday's federal election.

Little more than four years after suffering their worst ever electoral defeat, the Liberals polled about 40 percent of the popular vote, more than double their vote-share in 2011. This was enough to catapult them from a distant third-place to a parliamentary majority of a dozen or more seats in the 338-seat House of Commons.

Final seat and popular vote figures were not available at the time of writing. But under Justin Trudeau, the son of former Liberal Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, the Liberals made major gains in virtually all parts of the country, including the Atlantic provinces, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, and British Columbia.

Yesterday's vote was a massive repudiation of Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his decade-old Conservative government. The Conservatives lost more than 60 seats, with many cabinet ministers, including Finance Minister Joe Oliver, going down to personal defeat.

Comment: See also: Canadian Election 2015: Telling the truth costs political candidates their nomination

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Eye 2

Exposed: Israel's extrajudicial killings of Palestinian protesters caught on camera

Annie Robbins
Mondoweiss
Tue, 20 Oct 2015 17:23 UTC
Euro-Med
© Euro-MedEuro-Med Researcher Zerka Sahnoune (L) Human Rights Expert Daniela Donges (C) and Euro-Med Researcher Adel Majri (R) present their findings in a press conference in Geneva Friday
A new report summarizing Israel's Arbitrary Killings and its System of Structural Violence was released by the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor at a press conference in Geneva on Friday. The release included the following video, "Caught on Camera: Israel's extrajudicial killings," illustrating the killings of Palestinian civilians involved in political protests during the last two weeks.

The report follows Euro-Med Monitor's October 10th Call on International Community to hault Israel's extrajudicial executions.

Comment: The numerous cases cited show that an impartial court of law would not convict these men, women, and children of anything. They are imprisoned for the 'crime' of being Palestinian, they are starved for the 'crime' of being Palestinian, and they are murdered for the 'crime' of being Palestinian.

Also see: From American occupations to European detention camps: Remaking the World in greater Israel's image

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War Whore

Turkish police arrest ISIS suspects in raid, including children training as terrorists


RT
Tue, 20 Oct 2015 17:42 UTC
Image
© Charlotte Franks / YouTube
Turkish police have detained dozens of ISIS-connected suspects, among them 24 under the age of 18, who are being trained to operate in Syria and Iraq as Islamic State's militants.

The Istanbul Anti-Terror Directorate has arrested dozens of foreigners in one of the districts of Turkey's largest city. Those detained are suspected of getting ready to transfer to areas of Syria in Iraq under Islamic State's control, the Turkish daily Vatan reports.

Detectives targeted some 18 homes in Istanbul's eastern Pendik district. Special operations teams supported by a helicopter simultaneously raided all the suspicious addresses.

The raids were part of the investigation into the massive terror attack that killed over 100 people in the Turkish capital, Ankara, on October 10.
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Arrow Up

Following the Crimean example: South Ossetia planning referendum to join Russia


Sputnik
Tue, 20 Oct 2015 16:51 UTC
south ossetia flag
© Sputnik/ Grigoriy Sysoyev
The leader of South Ossetia is planning to organize a referendum to join Russia.

The leader of the breakaway Georgian republic of South Ossetia is planning to organize a referendum to join Russia, the president's press service announced on Monday.

South Ossetia declared independence from Georgia in the early 1990s. Moscow recognized the region, as well as another Georgian breakaway region of Abkhazia, as an independent state in August 2008 following an armed conflict with Tbilisi. The war prompted Georgia to declare South Ossetia and Abkhazia "occupied" territories.

"Today's political realities are such that we have to make a historic choice, we must reunite with brotherly Russia," Leonid Tibilov said at a meeting with Russian Presidential Aide Vladislav Surkov.
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Light Saber

Russian air support brings Syrian Army's victory over terrorists closer


Sputnik
Tue, 20 Oct 2015 16:39 UTC
syrian army russian air strikes
© Sputnik/ Michael Alaeddin
The launch of Russia's military operation against the Islamic State militants in Syria has brought the victory of the Syrian Army over terrorist groups closer, Minister of State for National Reconciliation Affairs Ali Haidar said.

Russia's Sukhoi Su-25, Su-24M and Su-34 attack aircraft, with the support of Su-30 jets, commenced precision airstrikes against terrorist targets in Syria on September 30, following a request from Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Since the beginning of the air campaign, the Russian Aerospace Forces have carried out several hundred airstrikes, killing multiple militants and destroying command centers, training camps and ammunition depots.

"One hundred percent, no doubt [the Russian operation would expedite the Syrian Army's victory]. It has become a new step in the development of events on the combat scene and is ensuring favorable ground for new developments of the Syrian Army on the ground which we are now witnessing," Haidar told RIA Novosti in an interview.

Following the start of the Russian air campaign, Syrian General Staff Lt.-Gen. Ali Abdullah Ayyoub said that the country's Armed Forces had launched a large-scale operation to retake occupied areas from terrorists.

Comment: The Syrian army has proven itself an effective combat force, when it isn't actively interfered with by Washington.

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Eye 2

Nuland attempting to interfere with investigation of Maidan snipers case


Sputnik
Tue, 20 Oct 2015 16:17 UTC
nuland maiden snipers ukraine
© Sputnik/ Petr ZadorozhnyVictoria Nuland and Geoffrey Pyatt together toured the opposition camp in Kiev in December 2014
The Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine (PGO) released a statement that Russia wasn't involved in the killing of Maidan protesters, Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said.

Immediately after the statement, the US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland announced that she wants to get rid of the PGO and replace it with a new judicial institution, Azarov said.

Something fishy is going on in Ukraine right now: has Nuland decided to eliminate the PGO because it couldn't find evidence that Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) officers weren't involved in the shooting of protesters during the Maidan Revolution in Kiev?

"It seems that someone is very keen on "hiding the evidence" of the investigation of killings on Maidan square," the former Prime Minister wrote on his Facebook account.

Azarov is convinced that all killings were orchestrated by leaders of the current political regime in Ukraine. That's why a proper investigation into the case of the killing of Maidan protesters by unknown snipers will never happen.

Comment: Regime change in Ukraine has long been Victoria Nuland's pet project. A proper investigation could damage all her nefarious planning. If it was allowed to go forward, that is.

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War Whore

Deluded Kissinger thinks Russia taking out ISIS in Syria can be used to further U.S. imperialism agenda


RT
Tue, 20 Oct 2015 15:56 UTC
Image
© Jason Redmond / Reuters
Defeating Islamic State should take precedence over regime change in Syria, Henry Kissinger has argued, adding that Russia's intervention may help re-establish order in the Middle East that was once entirely dominated by the US.

"The destruction of ISIS is more urgent than the overthrow of Bashar Assad," the elderly US statesman, who served as Secretary of State to Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, wrote in the Wall Street Journal on Friday. "The current inconclusive U.S. military effort risks serving as a recruitment vehicle for ISIS as having stood up to American might."

In the commentary, titled 'A Path Out of the Middle East Collapse,' Kissinger argues the region is "in shambles" as non-state movements tear apart countries like Libya, Yemen, Syria and Iraq. He calls the so-called Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIS and ISIL) established in parts of Iraq and Syria an "unrelenting foe of established world order," seeking to replace the international system with an Islamic empire.


Comment: That's a bunch of nonsense. ISIS was established by the U.S. in order to destabilize countries which it had previously identified as being important to the American empire and not having existing leaders who were already puppets of the U.S. Iraq, Yemen, Syria and Libya all fell into that category so we see ISIS primarily involved in those countries. It's not at all about an Islamic empire, but about using terrorists to further U.S. imperialism.


Though the US has dominated the region following the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, Washington is now at odds with just about every party in the region and at risk of losing all ability to shape events, Kissinger warned. At issue in the Middle East today is "American resolve in understanding and mastering a new world."
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