Puppet Masters
The 37-year-old Hawaiian representative this week blasted Trump for being "Saudi Arabia's b*tch" after he controversially backed the Saudi regime over the brutal murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Trump said the US-Saudi relationship was too important to consider a rupture with the oil kingdom's rulers.
Trump's prioritizing of commercial and strategic interests over the brutal killing of a US-resident journalist in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2 was met with widespread disdain among American politicians and media this week. But Gabbard's put down was probably the most scathing and memorable.

(L) Sergei Magnitsky ; (D) William 'Bill' Browder

US and Polish soldiers take part in NATO exercise Anakonda 2018 in Poland.
The Ukrainian crisis, which was used as a justification for sanctions against Moscow, is "a result of geopolitical games, played by the US and their allies in several countries, as well as the blindness of the bureaucrats in Brussels," Lavrov, who was visiting Portugal on Saturday, said in an interview with local Publico paper.
The EU leadership "not only sacrificed it's principles and values by turning a blind eye to the armed coup in Kiev, in which a democratically elected president was deposed, but followed Washington's lead and joined the anti-Russian sanctions," he added.
US-coalition airstrikes against targets in the terrorist-held city of Hajin, Syria on Saturday have left 20 civilians including nine children dead, Syrian state television has reported.
According to the Ikhbariya television channel, the civilians were killed during an airstrike on a market area in Hajin. Among them were eight women who were related to one another.
Comment: Below is just a selection of some of the recent strikes, most of which seem to be targeting civilians, with women and children featuring prominently amongst the victims:
- Mostly women and children among the 40 murdered by another US-led airstrike in Syria's Deir Ez-Zor (18th November)
- Syria: Civilian casualties mount with another US-led illegal airstrike killing up to 60 (12th November)
- US coalition strikes Syrian town using banned white phosphorus (again) (13th October)
- 2 US jets strike Syrian town with banned white phosphorus bombs - Russian Defense Ministry (9th September)

US astronaut Buzz Aldrin salutes the American flag on the surface of the Moon after he and fellow astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first men to land on the Moon.
"We've set such a task - to go there and check if they were there or not," Dmitry Rogozin joked in response to the popular question about the moon exploration. "The Americans say - they've been there. We'll verify that."
Switching to a more serious tone, he said that no country is currently capable of fulfilling a successful lunar program on its own. Russia expecting to cooperate with the US in exploring the Earth's satellite, Rogozin said as he visited a Russian spacecraft engine manufacturer in Moscow.
Russian cosmonauts will set foot on the Moon for the first time in the early 2030s as part of a 14-day mission, a recently revealed roadmap of the Russian lunar program said.
Russia's politics in Libya
Unlike what happened in Syria, Moscow did not immediately (and definitively) choose an ally. Here there was not a Bashar al Assad to defend against the advance of the Islamic State. And there were no gangs of jihadists ready to defeat an allied government or opposing powers eager to overthrow the system of alliances. There was chaos. And in the chaos, Putin preferred to play in a different way, focusing not on one player, but trying to dialogue with everyone. The Kremlin has never hidden the sympathies for Khalifa Haftar, the strong man from Cyrenaica. Evidence of this is also the latest recent trip by the Libyan Marshal to Moscow, where he met Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. The two discussed, you read on the official page of the Libyan National Army, "the strategies to resolve the Libyan crisis and the fight against terrorism".
Three top candidates have emerged to succeed Angela Merkel as leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) on December 8, and thus plausibly as chancellor in 2021 or even earlier. The rest of Europe and even the world has a stake in this contest. How would each of the potential heirs change Germany's geopolitical direction?
These are the candidates: Annegret-Kramp Karrenbauer, 56, is the party's secretary general. Friedrich Merz, 63, was sidelined by Merkel in the early 2000s but has since been successful in business. And Jens Spahn, 38, is currently Merkel's health minister. A fourth potential candidate decided not to run this time, but could enter the race for chancellor later: Armin Laschet, 57, the premier of North Rhine-Westphalia.
None of the four would represent a fundamental break with German tradition. All four will honor the two main pillars of Christian-Democratic and German foreign policy: a dual commitment to the trans-Atlantic relationship and to the European Union.
FETÖ leader Gülen and 27 suspects indicted for the 2016 assassination of Russian envoy Andrey Karlov
Twenty-eight suspects, including Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ)'s leader Fetullah Gülen, were indicted, said the sources, speaking on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media.
Prominent FETÖ members Şerif Ali Tekalan, Emrullah Uslu and Şahin Söğüt were also included in the indictment. Gülen and Tekalan live in the United States, while some among the suspects were already arrested. The indictment has been submitted to an Ankara court.
The suspects are accused of violating the constitutional order, being a member of an armed terror group, and deliberate killing with the objective of spreading terror. The indictment also concluded that the assassination was an act of provocation targeting Turkey-Russia relations.
Karlov was killed on Dec. 19, 2016 by Mevlüt Mert Altıntaş, an off-duty police officer with links to FETÖ, in an art gallery in the capital Ankara. Altıntaş was killed in a shootout with police in the gallery after the assassination.
Comment: Gülen as the mastermind behind the 2016 coup has not been verified, at least publicly. Indicting Gülen for the assassination of Karlov may be a gamble to actuate his extradition back to Turkey, a demand US presidents have not been willing to fulfill.
Law enforcement officers across the country face complex and dangerous policing environments that may result in the use of force. To date, there has been no mechanism for collecting nationwide statistics related to use-of-force incidents. While some law enforcement agencies and states have proactively developed their own use-of-force data collections for use at both the local and state level, there has yet to be a consistent, aggregated view of such data from a national perspective.
Comment: This mechanism should be mandatory, versus voluntary, for all law enforcement agencies.
More details from FBI:UCR
Three types of use-of-force events and information related to each event will be collected starting in 2017. These events include:The definition of serious bodily injury will be based, in part, upon Title 18, United States Code, Section 2246 (4). The term "serious bodily injury" means "bodily injury that involves a substantial risk of death, unconsciousness, protracted and obvious disfigurement, or protracted loss or impairment of the function of a bodily member, organ, or mental faculty."
- When a fatality to a person occurs connected to use of force by a law enforcement officer;
- When there is serious bodily injury to a person connected to use of force by a law enforcement officer;
- In the absence of either death or serious bodily injury, when a firearm is discharged by law enforcement at or in the direction of a person.
The National Use-of-Force Data Collection will include the following data elements:
Incident informationSubject information
- Date and time of the incident
- Total number of officers who applied actual force during the incident
- Number of officers from the reporting agency who applied actual force during the incident
- Location of the incident (address or latitude/longitude)
- Location type of the incident (street, business, residence, restaurant, school, etc.)
- Did the officer(s) approach the subject(s)?
- Was it an ambush incident?
- Was a supervisor or a senior officer acting in a supervisory capacity present or consulted at any point during the incident?
- What was the reason for initial contact between the subject and the officer (response to unlawful or suspicious activity, routine patrol, traffic stop, etc.)?
- If the initial contact was due to "unlawful or criminal activity," what were the most serious reported offenses committed by the subject prior to or at the time of the incident?
- If applicable, the reporting agency will enter the National Incident-Based Reporting System or local incident number of the report detailing criminal incident information on the subject and/or assault or homicide of a law enforcement officer
- If the incident involved multiple law enforcement agencies, the agency will include case numbers for the local use-of-force reports at the other agencies
Officer information
- Age, sex, race, ethnicity, height, and weight
- Injury/death of subject(s) (gunshot wound, apparent broken bones, unconsciousness, etc.)
- Type(s) of force used connected to serious bodily injury or death (firearm, electronic control weapon, explosive device, blunt instrument, etc.)
- Did the subject(s) resist?
- Was the threat by the subject(s) directed to the officer or to another party?
- Type(s) of subject resistance/weapon involvement (threatened officer, threatened others, threatened self, active aggression, firearm, attempt to flee, etc.)
- Was there an apparent or known impairment in the physical condition of subject? If yes, indicate which (mental health/alcohol/drugs/unknown)
- At any time during the incident, was the subject(s) armed or believed to be armed with a weapon
- Age, sex, race, ethnicity, height, and weight
- Years of service as a law enforcement officer (total tenure, number of years)
- At the time of the incident, was the officer a full-time employee?
- Was the officer readily identifiable?
- Was the officer on duty at the time of the incident?
- Did the officer discharge a firearm?
- Was the officer injured?
- What was the officer's injury type (gunshot wound, apparent broken bones, severe laceration, unconsciousness, etc.)
"Russia will continue to contribute to efforts, including those in Egypt, to achieve Palestinian reconciliation between Ramallah and Gaza, of course, we support the need to resume direct dialogue between Palestine and Israel and the proposal we made several years ago to meeting of the leaders of Israel and Palestine in Russia without preconditions remains in place. It is impossible to guarantee sustainable stability in the Mediterranean region, including in Libya, Syria, Iraq and other countries that influence the situation in the Mediterranean, without a fair solution to the old Palestinian regional problem."The Russian minister also emphasized that the solution to the Palestinian-Israeli problem must be based "on UN resolutions and the Arab Peace Initiative."
According to Lavrov, attempts to review the international legal framework for settlement and replace it with certain "rules" that are not universally recognized will only aggravate an already difficult situation.
The Arab Peace Initiative establishes, among other conditions for achieving peace in the Middle East, the complete withdrawal of the Israelis from all occupied territories since 1967 and the recognition by Israel of the sovereignty of the Palestinian state with the capital in East Jerusalem.
Comment: See also:
- Putin: The Palestinian-Israeli conflict has only a political, negotiated solution based on international law
- Putin: Palestine and Israel peaceful coexistence essential for regional security
- Palestine FM: Russia could host Palestine-Israel talks as US can no longer be the sole broker
- Russia prepares to host 'meaningful' Israeli-Palestinian talks - Israel fears 'internationalization' of Palestinian question
- Palestinian leaders want Russia to play a bigger role in peace talks with Israel













Comment: Countries like Britain are at the forefront of anti-Russian propaganda and seem to be suicidal in their aggression towards Russia, meanwhile other European nations, like Italy and Austria can see through the hysterics and are hoping to form constructive partnerships; will Europe sacrifice itself to the folly of an ailing empire which is incapable of accepting reality?
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