Puppet Masters
"I believe that Saudi Arabia and Turkey are the two greatest dangers to world peace," Senator Black told RT. "It is Saudi Arabia, through the Wahhabist doctrine, that is spreading terrorism across the globe. It's not Iran, it's not Syria or any other country."
Saudi Arabia's state-sponsored teachings of Wahhabism promote an ultra-conservative, austere version of Sunni Islam. Meanwhile, Black told RT that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan intends to impose an absolute dictatorship.
"Erdogan has a dream of becoming a new Ottoman Empire," Black said. "He's a very calculating, very vicious individual and, I think, a great danger. Erdogan won an absolute majority of the Turkish parliament, which will enable him to rewrite the constitution. Once he had that total power to impose an absolute dictatorship - which he intends to do - and he publicly said that his model is that of Adolph Hitler."
"Those attacks aim at devastating capacities of the Syrian people and complicate development and reconstruction of the country," Bashar Ja'afari was quoted as saying by TASS on Tuesday.
The Western coalition's air raids are hitting facilities critical for ordinary Syrians to survive, he stressed, mentioning recent bombing of water tower facility in the province of Raqqa that deprived people of an access to pure water in surrounding villages and towns. In October 2015, the coalition's warplanes bombed Radwaniyah area outside Aleppo, severely damaging two power plants, with the damage estimated at €1.2 billion, Ja'afari added.
Comment: This is why the Russian intervention in Syria has been so important. The US-led action in Syria was never about stopping ISIS, which the US actively helped create, but in crippling the Syrian state's ability to fight ISIS so that the West could foment a revolution which would overthrow the Assad government and install a pro-US puppet and turning Syria into another Libya and Iraq. Without Russian help, ISIS would probably have taken over Syria by now and the people of Syria would be suffering immensely for it.
"I cannot but mention such a critical task which is the formation of three divisions in the western theater. The task is extremely important," TASS reported Shoigu as telling journalists.
Shoigu also added that alongside the creation of the new divisions, the army will have to set up proper infrastructure including barracks, firing ranges and military hardware depots.
While details of the new formations are unknown, the minister's announcement came amid a US and NATO military build-up in Central and Eastern Europe - against what Washington and its allies call "Russian aggression."
Pickering characterized the plan as a potential "game changer in the region," recommending that the United States undertake the campaign to spark protests, led be female Palestinians, against Israel.
"What will change the situation is a major effort to use non-violent protests and demonstrations to put peace back in the center of people's aspirations as well as their thoughts, and use that to influence the political leadership," Pickering wrote. "This is far from a sure thing, but far, in my humble view, from hopeless," he continued. "Women can and ought to be at the center of these demonstrations. Many men and others will denigrate the idea." He said that Israeli soldiers were "fearful, nervous, outnumbered [and] insecure," and would resort to the use of force when encountered by Palestinian men.
Pickering, who also served as undersecretary of state for political affairs under former President Bill Clinton, wrote that the White House must keep its role in the unrest a secret so as not to create tensions with Tel Aviv.
Comment: Pickering is delusional and unfit to advise anyone. He obviously doesn't understand why Israel will never agree to a two-state solution and will not hesitate to take down women in the way. Israel wants piece, not peace.
"We support both Assad's army and the armed opposition," Putin said in a lengthy recent interview to the newspaper, now published in full. "Some of them have publicly declared this, others prefer to remain silent, but the work is ongoing."
According to the president, "This is hundreds, thousands of armed people fighting Islamic State [IS, previously ISIS/ISIL]."
"We are coordinating our joint operations with them and support their offensives by airstrikes in various sections of the front line," Putin said.
The Western media has repeatedly criticized Russia over its airstrikes in Syria, claiming they only support the Assad regime and allegedly focus on hitting the Syrian opposition rather than IS.
"They are telling lies," Putin reacted, when asked about the allegations. Despite the existence of evidence showing the facts on the ground, Russia's critics "prefer to ignore it."
"Look, the videos that support this version appeared before our pilots even started to carry out strikes against terrorists. This can be corroborated," the president said.
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan alleged that the blast was an "attack by a Syria-rooted suicide bomber. Unfortunately... there are fatalities, including locals and foreigners. This incident showed again we have to stand together in the face of terror," he said.
Meanwhile, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said most of those killed in the attack were foreigners, adding that the suspected assailant has been identified as a 28-year-old Syrian national.
No individual or group has so far claimed responsibility for the bombing but previous attacks were blamed on Daesh Takfiri terrorists. Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu convened an emergency meeting following the blast while media has been barred from showing images of the dead or injured or reporting any details of the investigation.
Comment: Does this modus operandi seem familiar? As with other recent terrorist incidents in Western affiliates and the US, there is a pattern...we shall see.
On a social network, photos appeared from the massacre between the guards and visitors that occurred in the Transcarpathian region on the morning of the 10th January in the tourist camp "Xata Magnata".
A member of "Right sector" said that on Sunday morning there was a skirmish between the representatives of the RS (not Transcarpathian "Right sector", but fighters from other regions, among them there were those who took part in the blockade of Crimea, in particular he called out the name of the head of the operational headquarters of the RS on the siege of Crimea, a "Croatian" friend), who rested at the base, and police officers that interfered to protect the recreational facility.
Comment: Including these updates and original information, it sounds like the Right Sector decided they were going to have a banquet in their honor, and weren't going to pay for it. When a guard spoke up they ganged up on him and beat him senseless. He is hospitalized with severe injuries. The rest of the resort, from the chef to police to the owner, were so enraged that they gathered together, beat the tar out of the neo-Nazi thugs, duct-taped them, and tossed them into the snow.
"I think that the reasoning on the other countries, the attempted reasoning on other countries in a derogatory manner is the flip side to prove their exclusivity. It seems to me that this is wrong," said Putin in an interview with German magazine Bild, responding to a question on the statement of U.S. President Barack Obama about Russia as a regional power.
"If we say that Russia is a regional power, we should first determine what region we are referring to. Look at the map and ask: "What is it, is it part of Europe? Or is it part of the eastern region, bordering on Japan and the United States, if we mean Alaska and China? Or is it part of Asia? Or perhaps the southern region?" Or look at the north. Essentially, in the north we border on Canada across the Arctic Ocean. Or in the south? Where is it? What region are we speaking about?" — said Putin.
Comment: Obama's getting schooled as usual. Also see: Nobel peace prize-winner Obama dropped 23,144 bombs in 2015

Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) ran the operation through the border town of Tel Abyad.
According to the documents that were handed over to the Guardian by the Syrian Kurdish forces, Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) ran the operation through the border town of Tel Abyad. The seven manifests seized by the Kurds contain the names of 70 people - men, women, even infants - that had crossed into the town in the period from December 2014 to March 2015.
The papers all bear IS markings associated with the group's 'department of immigration' and 'department of transport'. All appeared to be traveling from IS-held territory.
To verify the authenticity of the passenger manifests, the Guardian revealed that the Kurdish forces had contacted an IS expert, academic researcher Aymenn al-Tamimi.
"The documents... coincide with other documents illustrating daily bus routes within Islamic State territory. Though private companies provide the actual transportation, the Islamic State bureaucracy is responsible for authorizing and overseeing the routes," he said.
Comment: Given that Turkey has an oil smuggling business going with ISIS, is it too far a stretch to wonder if trafficking in people is another arrangement?
- Is Turkey engineering the refugee crisis to justify 'safe havens' in Syria?
- Erdogan is using the refugee crisis to strong-arm the EU
- Turkey is arresting, mistreating, and deporting the refugees the EU paid it to accept
Karim Atal is the head of the provincial council in Helmand, where the resurgent Taliban has seized large areas of land since the United States handed over control to Afghan forces a year ago.
"At checkpoints where 20 soldiers should be present, there are only eight or 10," Atal told the Associated Press. "It's because some people are getting paid a salary but not doing the job because they are related to someone important, like a local warlord."
Comment: The US continues to prove how corrupt its chain of command is. Also see:
Another major source of systematic corruption: the filching of Pentagon money via salaries paid to "ghost soldiers" and policemen, recruits enrolled in the Afghan security forces who don't exist. Here, too, Washington's funds became the basis for embezzlement and "Afghan" corruption.
Up to 90% of Afghan troops and police are illiterate, and about a quarter of the force deserts annually. This has provided rich opportunities for commanders to pad their lists of soldiers with so-called ghosts, keep them on the books, and pocket their salaries. (It is worth recalling that this practice became similarly widespread in the South Vietnamese army during the American war in Vietnam.)
Besides filching salaries, enterprising police and army commanders have made money by reselling Pentagon war materials. For instance,according to documents leaked by the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks, a police chief in the eastern town of Zurmat reported fictitious firefights with the Taliban, and upon being restocked with thousands of rounds of ammunition, sold them to a bazaar merchant. Another provincial police commissioner purloined food and uniforms, while leaving his men cold and underfed in the winter. Such acts led to the creation of a significant black market in U.S. military equipment and goods of every sort.
How the Pentagon corrupted Afghanistan















Comment: The senator is right. Since Saudi Arabia and Turkey are essentially puppet terrorist states of the US, what the senator is really saying is that the US government is the greatest threat to world peace.