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Bad Guys

Down the Memory Hole: The New York Times erases CIA's Syrian interventions

Adam Johnson
FAIR
Fri, 25 Sep 2015 14:36 UTC
New York Times
© Wikipedia
FAIR has noted before how America's well-documented clandestine activities in Syria have been routinely ignored when the corporate media discuss the Obama administration's "hands-off" approach to the four-and-a-half-year-long conflict. This past week, two pieces—one in the New York Times detailing the "finger pointing" over Obama's "failed" Syria policy, and a Vox "explainer" of the Syrian civil war—did one better: They didn't just omit the fact that the CIA has been arming, training and funding rebels since 2012, they heavily implied they had never done so.

First, let's establish what we do know. Based on multiple reports over the past three-and-a-half years, we know that the Central Intelligence Agency set up a secret program of arming, funding and training anti-Assad forces. This has been reported by major outlets, including the New York Times, The Guardian, Der Spiegel and, most recently, the Washington Post, which—partly thanks to the Snowden revelations—detailed a program that trained approximately 10,000 rebel fighters at a cost of $1 billion a year, or roughly 1/15th of the CIA's official annual budget.

In addition to the CIA's efforts, there is a much more scrutinized and far more publicized program by the Department of Defense to train "moderate rebels," of which only a few dozen actually saw battle. The Pentagon program, which began earlier this year and is charged with fighting ISIS (rather than Syrian government forces), is separate from the covert CIA operation. It has, by all accounts, been an abysmal failure.

Comment: Also see: The Atlantic Council, Western media, and the 'Big Lie' about Putin's Russia

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Light Sabers

Now that's hospitality: U.S. threatens China with sanctions ahead of Jinping's talks with Obama


RT
Fri, 25 Sep 2015 15:28 UTC
jinping obama
Thanks, but no thanks.
Chinese President Xi Jinping's US tour might leave a nasty aftertaste after Washington threatened Beijing with economic sanctions over alleged hacker attacks against American business entities.

Xi is touring the US ahead of negotiations with Obama, meeting senior business figures and securing huge deals, but the US administration has an agenda of its own and does not limit itself with formal ceremonies.

The recent cyber scandal at the Office of Personnel Management, already dubbed the biggest government hack in US history, when the agency admitted the hackers gained access to 5.6 million fingerprint records, has pushed the US administration to decisive steps.

"This is not just a matter of us being mildly upset, but is something that will put significant strains on the bilateral relationship if not resolved," President Obama said.

Obama's press secretary Josh Earnest said Thursday presidential office is considering economic sanctions against Chinese individuals and entities claiming they profited from the results of the hacks made in the US networks.

"I will just say that we have made clear our concerns about China's activity in cyberspace," the Guardian cited Earnest as saying. "There are a range of tools that are at the president's disposal to respond to those concerns. We do believe that having those tools on the table, including possible financial sanctions, have been effective as a deterrent and in advancing our interest in that regard."


Comment: 'Equal partnership', cooperation, respect, hospitality - these are foreign concepts for the U.S. It's either the U.S. in a position of superiority and domination, or nothing. China disagrees. They are also friends with Russia. That makes them doubly bad, in the U.S.'s books. And the U.S. is trying every dirty trick in their arsenal to reassert their largely illusory status as the ruler of a unipolar world.

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Info

House Speaker Boehner to resign his seat next month

Susan Cornwell and Richard Cowan
Reuters
Fri, 25 Sep 2015 15:35 UTC
Image
© Reuters/James Lawler DugganU.S. Speaker of the House John Boehner exits a Republican caucus meeting in the U.S. Capitol after announcing to the meeting that he will be resigning his speakership and his seat in Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington September 25, 2015.

U.S. House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, who struggled with repeated rebellions by conservatives during a tumultuous 5-year reign as the chamber's top Republican, will step down from the speakership and leave the House at the end of October.

The Ohio lawmaker, 65, stunned Republican House members at a morning meeting on Friday with the announcement he will leave the top job in the 435-seat chamber and resign his seat effective on Oct. 30.

U.S. Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the No. 2 House Republican, quickly became the leading contender to replace Boehner as speaker, lawmakers said.
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Chess

The geopolitics of a potential Saudi-Russia Alliance

Jon Zobenica
Asia Times
Fri, 25 Sep 2015 15:29 UTC
Putin Saudi Arabia
© UnknownKing of Saudi Arabia Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud awarded Mr Putin the Order of King Abdul Aziz – the highest decoration from the Kingdom.
While it seems a bit easier to contend that Saudi Arabia is playing the 'Russia card' to keep the US under pressure, a closer look would suggest that Saudi Arabia and Russia, too, have a lot to gain from Riyadh making such a move.

However, it cannot be said that Saudi Arabia, forced by its own tactical mistakes in the Middle East, has been forced to change its course of action at global level.

Regardless of Saudi Arabia's central involvement in crushing oil prices in 2014 partly to put unbearable pressure on Russian economy, Moscow has shown its partial willingness to reverse the trend.

Comment: Geopolitics certainly makes for strange bedfellows:

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Stormtrooper

US Senator suggests precedent for poor countries to walk away from IMF Debt by saying Ukraine should walk away from Russia debt


RT
Fri, 25 Sep 2015 15:17 UTC
Image
© Gleb Garanich / ReutersU.S. Senator Chris Murphy (R) makes a speech to pro-European integration protesters as Senator John McCain (C) and Ukrainian opposition leader Vitaly Klitschko (L) look on during a mass rally at Independence Square in Kiev December 15, 2013
The US and other countries should do everything to grant Ukraine the legal right to shrug off its $3 billion Russian debt due in December, said US Senator Chris Murphy of the Foreign Relations Committee in an interview with the Sputnik news agency.

"The international community should make it clear that we should take whatever steps necessary to give Ukraine the legal cover it needs to walk away from that debt...I don't think Ukraine should be obligated to pay Russia back a dime," said the Connecticut senator to the agency on Thursday.

The US has been "treating Russia with kid gloves on this question of the debt that Ukraine owes it," Murphy added.

Comment: All things being equal, maybe Russia should default on its foreign debt? As Pepe Escobar recently wrote:
Imagine Russia defaulting on all its foreign debt - over $700 billion - on which Western sanctions have raised extra, punitive costs in terms of repayment.

The default would be payback for the twin Western manipulation of oil prices and the ruble. ...

Currently the only products that the West needs from Russia are oil and natural gas. A possible Russian default on its debt would have no effect on that demand in the short-term; and most probably in the long-term as well, unless it would contribute to a new financial crisis in the West, something that nearly happened in 1998.

We all remember August 1998, when a Russian default shook the entire Western financial system to the core. If a Russian default is now the object of serious consideration by the highest powers that be - and that includes, of course, the FSB, SVR, GRU - then the specter of The Mother of All Financial Crisis in the West is back. And for the EU, that would be fatal.


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Stock Up

China boosts Russia's Arctic LNG project: As part of an intergovernmental agreement


RT
Fri, 25 Sep 2015 11:22 UTC
China Russia LNG
© Khaled Abdullah / Reuters
Chinese state-backed fund investments are boosting Russia's natural gas exploration project in the Arctic after Western anti-Russia sanctions have crimped Moscow's financial options, according to Total CEO Patrick Pouyanne.

The French oil giant Total, Russia's Novatek and China National Petroleum Corp. are developing a joint $27 billion Yamal liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in the Kara Sea. While most of the project's western financing was cut off due to Western sanctions against Russia, the partners have turned to Chinese state banks for loans, Pouyanne told the Wall Street Journal. They want to attract some $12 billion.

Earlier this month, Chinese $40 billion Silk Road Fund acquired 9.9 percent stake in Yamal LNG, the price of the purchase was not disclosed. Chinese state-owned infrastructure fund will thus join the project as part of China's contribution, according to Total CEO.

"This project is part of an intergovernmental agreement between Russia and China," Pouyanne told WSJ, adding that Yamal partners are still seeking investments from Chinese banks.

The Yamal LNG project involves the construction of a plant with a capacity of 16.5 million tons of LNG per year. The launch of the first stage is scheduled for 2017. Novatek has a 60 percent share in the project, while France's Total and China's CNPC have 20 percent each.

Russia's National Wealth Fund has contributed $1.4 billion to the project, with the remaining tranche of around $1 billion to be released soon, Pouyanne said.

Comment: While the US is busy creating chaos and imposing sanctions around the world, sober countries are strengthening each others economy to prosper. See also:

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USA

They're everywhere: US special operations forces deployed to 135 countries in 2015


RT
Fri, 25 Sep 2015 13:04 UTC
US Special forces
© Manuel J. Martinez / U.S. Air Force / Handout / Reuters
The Pentagon's most elite troops have been dispatched to nearly 70% of the world's countries in 2015, according to a report. It says US soldiers are "practicing night raids or sometimes conducting them for real... sometimes actually gunning down enemies from afar."

The US special operations soldiers are carrying out missions in up to 90 nations every day, TomDispatch reported, citing a spokesman for Special Operations Command (SOCOM), Ken McGraw.

The dramatic increase over the last five years is "indicative of SOCOM's exponential expansion which first shifted into high gear following the 9/11 attacks," the report stated, adding that SOCOM would not "name the 135 countries in which America's most elite forces were deployed this year, let alone disclose the nature of those operations."

Comment: Mainstream media has said nothing about the US military being in so many countries, yet they fall all over themselves to report on Russia being in Syria. Can we say double standards?

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No Entry

Kremlin denies existence of official request to sanction use of Russia troops in Syria


RT
Thu, 24 Sep 2015 10:31 UTC
latakia fighter jets
Satellite imagery of Russian fighter jets now stationed in Latakia, Syria.
Russian Upper House officials and the Kremlin spokesman have dismissed media reports about an alleged request to sanction the use of Russian military forces in Syria, adding that such document never existed even in preparatory stage.

"I know nothing about this, I have seen no documents on this issue. I cannot explain where this information could be coming from," Vladimir Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday when facing the question if media reports about the request to the Federation Council to sanctions the use of the Russian military forces in Syria were true.

"Currently there are a lot of speculations in various mass media. An overwhelming majority of these reports have nothing in common with the reality. I think it would be counter-productive and silly if I started commenting on all such news," Peskov added.

The head of the Upper House Committee for Defense and Security, Viktor Ozerov, has also said that he had no information about the document. "There is no such address in the Federation Council and, to my awareness, it is not being prepared," Ozerov told RIA Novosti.

Comment: The West seems to be grasping at straws, trying to find anything with which to demonize Putin and Russia. Rather than just telling the truth - that Russia is sending weapons and advisers to Syria to help in the fight against terrorism (something they've been doing for years) - Western media and politicians have taken to simply making up stories that fit the theme.

So what's the big deal? If Syria asks for Russia's help, and if Russia's Upper House agrees, that is entirely their prerogative. And it would be more legitimate than any Western intervention from the last 15 years (Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria...). The only problem seems to be that neither Syria, nor Russia have officially agreed to going as far as direct Russian involvement. And if that were to happen, again, so what? Perhaps it is simply because the U.S. doesn't want ISIS to be defeated?

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Post-It Note

Obama folds, agrees to meet with Putin in NY after speech on Monday


RT
Thu, 24 Sep 2015 10:19 UTC
putin obama
© RIA Novosti/Presidential Press Service/AP PhotoIt's OK, Barry. You had your chance.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold talks with his US counterpart, Barack Obama, during his stay at the UN General Assembly, Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin press secretary, said.

"A meeting with Obama has been coordinated," Peskov said, adding that the Russian leader will also be negotiating with Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe.

When asked about the agenda of the Putin-Obama talks, the press secretary's reply was "I'll give you three guesses."

Later, Peskov specified by saying, "naturally, Syria is going to be topping the agenda."

"If there is enough time," the Ukrainian issue will also be discussed by the leaders of Russia and the US, he added.

According to the press-secretary, the meeting will last from 50 minutes to an hour and will take place after the Russian president's address at the 70th session of the UN General Assembly on September 28.

Comment: Pepe Escobar put it nicely:
The White House announced a while ago that the coin FINALLY dropped on Obama and he WILL talk to Putin at the UN General Assembly.

And now a senior adviser to Assad is saying that the US and Russia have reached a "tacit agreement" on ending the mess in Syria.

Quick recap. Putin started by refusing "Assad must go" as a prerequisite for peace negotiations.

Then he turbo-charged the military build up in Latakia - both the Pentagon and the White House DID NOT see it coming.

So this is what Putin accomplished even BEFORE Obama saw the light and decided to talk:

Forget about a Libya-remixed NATO war on Syria.

Forget about a Sultan Erdogan no-fly zone over areas controlled by Damascus.

And out with the old world order. THIS is how the new world order works, and Russia is also driving it.

Putin's speech on Monday at the UN will be about "the joint struggle against terrorism" (as branded by TASS).

Expect abundant apoplexy in the Washington/New York axis.


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Arrow Down

The Australian government proclaims - environmentalism and alternative music are signs of terrorism

Michael Krieger
Liberty Blitzkrieg
Thu, 24 Sep 2015 15:01 UTC
Terrorist Ident Chart
© Liberty Blitzkrieg
Earlier this year, I highlighted how the UK government was cheerfully stretching the boundary of terrorist fear-mongering when it made it policy for registered childminders to "report toddlers at risk of becoming terrorists."

No, that's not a joke. Here's an excerpt from the post, The War on Toddler Terrorists - Britain Wants to Force Nursery School Teachers to Identify "Extremist" Children:
Nursery school staff and registered childminders must report toddlers at risk of becoming terrorists, under counter-terrorism measures proposed by the Government.

The directive is contained in a 39-page consultation document issued by the Home Office in a bid to bolster its Prevent anti-terrorism plan.

But concern was raised over the practicalities of making it a legal requirement for staff to inform on toddlers.
Clearly not wanting to be outdone when it comes to bureaucratic buffoonery, the Commonwealth of Australia is fighting back.
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