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Alexander Mercouris: Libyan crisis showed US foreign policy is a train wreck

Alexander Mercouris
Russia Insider
Wed, 02 Mar 2016 21:49 UTC
obama oval office

Obama in the Oval Office - alone and lost
New York Times articles intended to explain how the US intervened in Libya show a government in chaos

The New York Times has recently published two linked articles about the US role in the 2011 Libyan crisis (see here and here).The articles have attracted a lot of interest because of what they say about Hillary Clinton.It has long been known that she was the key advocate of the US intervention in Libya, and the two articles show the extent to which this was so.

There have been some complaints about the articles. It was said that they show Hillary Clinton in too favourable a light. It has also been said the articles ignore the extent to which the uprising against Gaddafi in Libya was clearly pre-planned and pre-prepared by outsiders.Both criticisms are valid, though I would say that in the case of the uprising in Libya the events point to France, Britain and Qatar being behind the uprising rather than the US.

It was apparent at the time that the US military and Obama himself were unenthusiastic about the intervention, and the "salty" comments to the French about Susan Rice - at the time the US's ambassador to the UN, now Obama's National Security Adviser - which are mentioned in the article, make it clear the US felt it was being led by the nose into an adventure in Libya that had been authored by its allies.

Comment: Further reading:

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House

Erdogan's fantasy: A 'refugee city' in Syria, only a devious smokescreen


Sputnik
Mon, 07 Mar 2016 16:48 UTC
emperor erdogan
© themuslimissue.wordpress.com
Recep Tayyip Erdogan's recent suggestion about building a 'refugee city' on a foreign territory is only a smokescreen, which conceals his true intentions, among which are a push for a buffer zone and air cover for his 'moderate rebels,' says the German media.

Ahead of the Turkish-EU emergency summit on refugee crisis, which is currently underway in Brussels, the Turkish leader has come up with a suggestion to build a "refugee city." However, the city is to be located near the Turkish border, on the territory of a foreign state. "I am going to tell you something. What is the formula? We found a city in the north of Syria," Erdogan said in a speech in Istanbul late Friday.

The Turkish president said he had even discussed the idea with US President Barack Obama, which however "has not yet come to fruition." German's Zeit Online is convinced that the suggestion is a "smokescreen" which conceals the Turkish president's true intentions.

Comment: Erdogan, the master puppet, has dared take on a fantasy life of his own, flailing his string-tied arms in the air with hardly a leg to stand on. He believes his ploys are indiscernible and therefore out of sight. But strings are there for a purpose and this marionette is but "an emperor in his own mind."

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Eye 2

Terrorists in Kiev shell eastern Ukraine checkpoint, sending Russian journalists into hiding


RT
Tue, 08 Mar 2016 20:35 UTC
donetsk army
© Ruptly
A group of Russian journalists, including a stringer for RT's Ruptly video agency, have come under shelling by Kiev forces at a checkpoint near the town of Yasinovataya in eastern Ukraine.

No one was injured in the incident on Tuesday, but the journalists were forced to hide in a basement until the end of the bombardment.

The shelled reporters represent RT's Ruptly video agency, Russia's VGTRK, Channel One, Channel Five, and RIA-Novosti news agency, as well as local Donetsk News Agency.

The Ukrainian forces used mortars, grenade launchers, and fire arms in the attack, RIA-Novosti reported.

Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) spokesman Eduard Basurin said earlier that Kiev's forces were trying to battle through to rebel-held territory near the strategic transport-hub of Yasinovataya.

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Attention

Yemen has received just 2% of required $1.8Bln in aid


Sputnik
Tue, 08 Mar 2016 20:21 UTC
smoking Yemeni house
© AP Photo/ Hani Mohammed
The Yemen Humanitarian Response Plan, launched in Geneva last month, is currently just 2 percent funded, according to spokesman for the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) Leo Dobbs.

Yemen has received just 2 percent of $1.8 billion required to provide 13.6 million people with necessary humanitarian assistance, spokesman for the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) Leo Dobbs said Tuesday.

"The Yemen Humanitarian Response Plan, launched in Geneva last month, seeks $1.8 billion for more than 100 humanitarian partners to provide critical and life-saving assistance to 13.6 million people in need. It is currently just 2 percent funded," Dobbs told reporters in Geneva.

Yemen is engulfed in a military conflict between Houthis, the country's main opposition faction, and government forces. In March 2015, a Saudi-led coalition of Arab states began airstrikes against Houthi positions in Yemen at the request of President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.

According to UNHCR data, in 2015, donors provided $892 million out of $1.6 billion, or 56 percent, requested by humanitarian organizations in Yemen.

Comment: No funding for humanitarian aid, but plenty of funding for the wars that lead to the necessity of that aid. See also:

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USA

Sott Exclusive: Hillary Clinton's bluffing. But who cares. She's a Clinton

Terry Brown
Sott.net
Tue, 08 Mar 2016 19:47 UTC
Hilary Clinton psychopath

A people get the president they deserve
Two famous families of Bushes and Clintons had governed in Washington for 20 years. And now another member of the Clinton family is running for presidency.

Hillary Clinton isn't a newcomer in politics. Though she has a reputation of a successful politician but it's difficult to mention her merits. All of them (if any) are easily cancelled out by her scandalous failures.

Hillary often acted thoughtlessly, irresponsibly, hypocritically and falsely. There's no need to mention the scandal with her personal email account instead of an official government account. But some of her mistakes and wrong decisions led to fatal consequences.
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Document

Syrian ceasefire bulletin: Syrian truce delegates want a unified Syria


Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation
Tue, 08 Mar 2016 19:07 UTC
russian mod bulletin
General information on the application of measures for the reconciliation of opposing sides

In the course of last 24 hours, preliminary ceasefire agreements have been achieved with commanders of 2 armed formations with total staff up to 300 men active in the Damascus province. In total, 37 ceasefire application forms have been signed with leaders of armed groupings.

Total number of towns, which had joined the ceasefire agreements, remained 42 ones.

In the Hama province, meeting of national reconciliation participants took place by the initiative of the governor and widespread support of population. More than 400 delegates, who represented 82 towns and villages, stated that it was necessary to maintain unity of Syria by ceasefire and establishing national political dialogue.

Comment: The actual 'rebel-held' areas complying with the ceasefire are relatively small. The war continues on the vast territories held by Daesh, al-Qaeda, and other terrorist groups. U.S. CENTCOM say they have observed 'infrequent' assistance provided to the Kurdish YPG in the north of Syria by Russian forces. (Kurds make up 80% of the U.S.-supported Syrian Democratic Forces. In other words, they're in the unique position of having both U.S. and Russian support.) The YPG is surrounded on most fronts by Daesh, and their forces were essential in closing and holding the northern Aleppo pocket/corridor. Turkey recently accused the SDF of shelling Turkish territory, which the Kurds denied.

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Light Sabers

Netanyahu cancels visit to White House, sparking rumors of strained relations between US and Israel


Sputnik
Tue, 08 Mar 2016 18:07 UTC
netanyahu obama
© AFP 2016/ Saul Loeb
A fresh row has broken out after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu turned down an offer to travel to the US and meet with President Barack Obama. The dispute comes as US Vice President Joe Biden touches down in Israel for talks.

Netanyahu's decision to reject a US invitation to travel to the White House later this month sparked a sharp response from Washington, with US officials saying they were "surprised" to learn of the development through Israeli media, rather than from Netanyahu's office.

​Officials in Washington also shot down "false" media suggestions that Netanyahu decided not to make the trip the US because President Obama could not organize a meeting between himself and the Israeli PM.

"We were looking forward to hosting the bilateral meeting," Ned Price, a spokesman for the White House's National Security Council said. "We were surprised to first learn via media reports that the prime minister, rather than accept our invitation, opted to cancel his visit."

Israeli officials said Netanyahu declined the invitation to travel to Washington because he did not want to disrupt the caucus vote for the upcoming US Presidential election at the end of the year.
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Binoculars

Neocons worried Trump will bring an end to their world order


Sputnik
Sun, 06 Mar 2016 18:38 UTC
trump
© AFP 2016/ Michael B. Thomas
The Drumpf.

Comment: Speaking in the early 1960s, former MI6 operative Julian Amery gave a speech in which he captured the essence of his and his fellow European colonialists' attitude to their continued ownership of their African holdings, like Katanga (which had illegally seceded from the newly formed Congo, with Belgian support and mercenaries): "The prosperity of our people rests really on the oil in the Persian Gulf, the rubber and tin of Malaya, and the gold, copper and precious metals of South and Central Africa ... as long as we [British] can realize the investments we have there; as long as we trade [sic] with this part of the world, we shall be prosperous. [If, on the other hand, the Communists take them over,] we would lose the lot." No acknowledgment that those resources were stolen from the people of the countries in which they were found, and their people deprived of any rights and profits.

How little things change. The neocons - architects of the current American empire - require control over those same oil resources, not to mention political control over bodies like the EU. Neocons like Applebaum could care less about war, poverty and death. All they want is that "prosperity" that never seems to trickle down to the citizens of their own countries.


As eccentric billionaire Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump continues to rack up primary victories, the party's establishment is beginning to wonder whether the political outsider can be stopped. Alarmed, neoconservative pundit Anne Applebaum goes so far as to suggest that a Trump presidency would mark "the end of the West as we know it."

On Saturday, real estate mogul Donald Trump racked up two more primary victories, winning in Louisiana and Kentucky, and thus securing a total of 373 delegates, with establishment candidates Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and John Kasich trailing with 291, 122 and 33 delegates, respectively.

With some pundits now openly asking whether the Republican establishment really has a chance to derail Trump, others, including neocon journalist Anne Applebaum, have resorted to scaremongering.
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Document

Fascism in action: Turkish government seizes control of another opposition news agency


RT
Tue, 08 Mar 2016 12:10 UTC
turkish police, news agency seized turkey
© Murad Sezer / Reuters
Despite criticism from European officials over its crackdown on opposition media, the Turkish government has reportedly taken control of another news agency. It comes days after the seizure of the popular opposition newspaper Zaman.

The news agency Cihan is believed to be close to US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, a foe of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. On Monday it posted a statement on its website which said an Istanbul court would appoint an administrator to run it. The ruling was made on a request from prosecutors investigating Gulen, who is suspected by the Turkish government of plotting a coup.

The development came just days after the popular opposition newspaper Zaman was seized by the Turkish government in a similar way. Both the news agency and the newspaper are part of the Feza Gazetecilik media company.

Other media outlets and businesses affiliated with Gulen's movement were taken over last year as the investigation was underway.

Comment:

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Snakes in Suits

Trump is America without a mask

John Wight
RT
Mon, 07 Mar 2016 14:55 UTC
Donald Trump
© Mike Stone / Reuters
The consensus among US political analysts is that Trump is an aberration, a candidate who stands in contradiction to the high morals and ideas associated not with only the White House but also the US itself. They couldn't be more wrong if they tried.

In truth, Trump represents not the idea but the reality of America, the ugly reality of a country and society with its mask removed. For what is the United States if not a brutal place where greed, arrogance and ruthlessness reigns? And what is Donald Trump if not a man whose entire life has been testament to those particular attributes?

It all seems light years away from 2008, when a young black hitherto unknown senator from Chicago, Barack Obama, was filling stadia across the country with soaring oratory, preaching hope, unity, and change to a country emerging battered and bruised from the two-term presidency of George Bush. It was a country in need of hope, desperate to be inspired and lifted out of the swamp of cynicism and callous disregard for human rights either at home or abroad. Who better qualified to do this than the nation's first black president? Those who wanted to believe America had left behind a shameful past of slavery, Jim Crow, and inequality allowed themselves to believe that the day of Jubilee had finally arrived.

As P.T. Barnum said, "There's a sucker born every minute."
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