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3 ex-envoys claim the drafting of US-Taliban deal is dangerous and damaging to Afghanistan. Is it?


RFE/RL
Fri, 06 Sep 2019 20:01 UTC
Taliban talks
© mashaalradio.com
Taliban-Afghan talks in Kabul
Three former U.S. envoys to Afghanistan warn that a draft U.S.-Taliban agreement on the withdrawal of all foreign troops from the country is a mistake that could unleash a "more dangerous" civil war.

"It is a very dangerous and damaging agreement," Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan from 2011 to 2012, said in an interview with RFE/RL on September 6.

Separately, James Cunningham, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan from 2012 to 2014, and James Dobbins, the U.S. special representative for Afghanistan from 2013 to 2014, told RFE/RL the draft deal did not create the conditions for peace and that foreign forces should remain in Afghanistan until an agreement between the Afghan government and the Taliban is implemented.

Crocker, Cunningham, and Dobbins are among nine former U.S. ambassadors who penned a joint statement earlier this week in which they said that "a major troop withdrawal must be contingent on a final peace."


Comment: Military involvement by the West was never meant to resolve 'the Afghan problem'. The US wants troops in Afghanistan for proximity to other targets as part of its own imperial obsession and will find or create 'excuses' to be there. In fact, Trump just got one:

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Stop

'No power to negotiate'? Trump cancels Afghan talks after Taliban attack for decades more war?


RT
Sat, 07 Sep 2019 23:01 UTC
queue for chopper
© 1st Lt. Verniccia Ford/US Army/handout via Reuters
The blast in Kabul that killed a dozen of people, including an American soldier, shows that there is no point in negotiating with the Taliban who can't even uphold a ceasefire during important talks, President Trump has claimed.

"If they cannot agree to a ceasefire during these very important peace talks, and would even kill 12 innocent people, then they probably don't have the power to negotiate a meaningful agreement anyway," Trump said in a tweet, announcing his decision to call off peace negotiations and cancel the meeting with the Taliban leaders scheduled for Sunday at Camp David.

How many more decades are they willing to fight?

Comment: See also:

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USA

Who are Hong Kong's heavyweights and what are their ties to Washington?


RT
Sat, 07 Sep 2019 19:56 UTC
Lee and Lai
© Reuters/Tyrone Siu
Hong Kong politician Martin Lee and Founder of Next Media Jimmy Lai march during a protest to demand authorities scrap a proposed extradition bill with China, in Hong Kong, China, on March 31, 2019.
Massive protests which gripped Hong Kong this summer have been portrayed as leaderless. Yet, there were people who held clear sway over the crowds. But who directs them?

As 'leaderless' as the crowds of protesters clashing with police on the streets of China's Special Administrative Region may have seemed, they still were largely influenced by a whole group of public figures, politicians, parties and organizations. And it turns out that some key figures behind the unrest had longstanding ties with the global "beacon of democracy" - Washington, DC.

One of the men at the center of the protest movement is a Hong Kong tycoon, Jimmy Lai, whose company owns one of the most-read local papers, a tabloid called the Apple Daily. Another one is politician and barrister, Martin Lee, the founding chairman of the local Democratic Party. Both men visited Washington at the height of the protests to meet with some high-ranking US officials including State Secretary Mike Pompeo.


Comment: See also:

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X

Pompeo: Afghan peace talks dead for now; US won't enter any agreement


RT
Sun, 08 Sep 2019 13:36 UTC
Pompeo
© Win McNamee/Getty/KJN
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said that peace negotiations with Afghanistan's Taliban are dead and that Washington will not enter any future agreement without "commitments" from the militants.

Appearing on a round of cable news shows Sunday morning, Pompeo told one of these, Fox News, that negotiations with the Taliban are dead "for the time being," adding that Washington is recalling its special envoy to Afghanistan to work out its next steps. Also appearing on CNN, Pompeo said that the US would not enter into any future agreement with the Taliban without "significant commitments" from the fighters, who now control more Afghan territory than at any point since the US invasion in 2001.

Pompeo's statements come one day after President Donald Trump canceled meetings with Taliban officials at Camp David. Trump scrapped the talks -which were planned in secret- after Taliban-claimed attacks in Kabul killed 12 people, including one American soldier, earlier in the week.

Comment: See also:

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Quenelle

Intimidation fail: Iranian spokesperson says tanker sought by US 'gone to its destination, oil sold'


Sputnik
Sun, 08 Sep 2019 18:36 UTC
iran flag oil tanker
© Reuters/JonNazca
A crew member raises the Iranian flag on the Iranian oil tanker Adrian Darya 1, previously named Grace 1, as it sits anchored after the Supreme Court of the British territory lifted its detention order, in the Strait of Gibraltar, Spain, August 18, 2019.
On Saturday, US National Security Advisor John Bolton posted a satellite image which he said was Iran's Adrian Darya 1 tanker loitering two nautical miles off the coast of the Tartus naval facility in Syria, and accused Tehran of "lying" about its alleged commitment not to send the tanker to Syria after its release by Gibraltar authorities last month. Tehran says it gave no such commitments.

Iran's Adrian Darya 1 tanker has made it to its destination, and sold its oil, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi has announced.

"The tanker has gone to its destination, the oil has been sold," Mousavi said, speaking to Iranian television on Sunday, his remarks quoted by Reuters.

The spokesman did not clarify whether the ship's crude oil cargo has been delivered, and did not specify the destination country, but did say the ship had docked on the Mediterranean coast.

Comment: The more the US throws its economic and military weight around in the world, the more countries will seek the safe, sane harbor that Russia and China are creating with their win-win economic pacts. Even cowed Europe is waking up to their predicament.

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Arrow Down

Hamas celebrates decision of EU court to remove it from world blacklist


Middle East Monitor
Sat, 07 Sep 2019 11:23 UTC
Hamas leaders
© mei.edu
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh (center-right)
The Islamic Palestinian movement, Hamas, hailed on Friday a European court decision to remove it from the world's terrorist list, a statement confirms. Hamas spokesman, Hazim Qassim, declared in the statement that the decision:
"is positive and a right step in the right direction. We hope that this decision will lead to completely remove the name of the movement from any unjust list. Resisting the Israeli occupation is legal according to the international conventions and laws. Classifying Hamas or any of the Palestinian resistance factions as terrorist organisations is completely unjust and not fair for the legal struggle of the Palestinian people against the occupation."
The Hamas official reiterated that this movement "will continue practicing its right to defend the Palestinian people and protect them until the achievement of their freedom and the right to establish an independent Palestinian state."

Hamas's statement came following a press release made by Hamas lawyer, Khalid Al-Showly, in which he announced:
"the European Court of First Instance in Luxembourg decided on Thursday to remove the Hamas movement, and its armed wing Al-Qassam Brigades, from the world's list of terrorism."
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Boat

Secret US-Iran deal over oil supplies to Syria

Elijah J. Magnier
ejmagnier.com
Sat, 07 Sep 2019 19:03 UTC
adrian darya
A secret deal has been set up between the US and Iran, through a third party, to enable the Iranian super tanker Adrian Darya 1 (formerly Grace 1) to deliver its 2.1 million barrels of oil to the Syrian government. Smaller tankers worked for five days unloading the oil to be delivered to the Syrian port of Tartous from offshore.

Sources closed to the negotiation team said the US "was determined to stop the Iranian supertanker from reaching Syria due to the US-EU strategy to economically sanction the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and turn Syrians against their leader." These countries, responsible for the 2011-2019 war, failed to achieve a regime change and a failed state militarily. Now they are trying to reach their goal by surrounding the country and preventing its return to normality. The US stopped the Gulf countries from returning to Damascus and imposed on Jordan to restrict the flow of goods to and from Syria. It has closed the al-Tanaf crossing with Iraq and is occupying the north-east (oil-rich!) area for no strategic purpose for the United States. Notwithstanding these drastic measures, Iran is determined to support its allies.

According to sources, Adrian Darya 1 remained for several days in the Mediterranean without a final destination, waiting for the end of the negotiations. Steps were agreed to begin releasing the "Stena Impero" British-flagged 7 crew members. Once Adrian Darya 1 has ended its delivery, more crew members are expected to be released. "Stena Impero" will be set free without further demand for financial compensation once "Adrian Darya 1" reaches a point of safety.

Iran said it has a buyer for the 2.1 million barrels of oil carried by the supertanker. According to informed sources, the client is Rami Makhlouf, President Assad's cousin who bought the 130 million dollars-worth cargo (in the open market). Iran offers hundreds of thousands of barrels monthly free to Syria and has done since the beginning of the 2011 war. Damascus pays the rest - at a much reduced price - to Iran or to whomsoever Tehran decides, said the sources.
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Bomb

'Vigorous response': Israel strikes Gaza after Hamas drone 'drops explosive' on IDF vehicle


RT
Sun, 08 Sep 2019 19:00 UTC
An Israeli F-16 fighter jet
© Jack Guez / AFP
The Israeli military has launched a series of attacks against multiple Hamas targets in Gaza, accusing militants of sending an armed drone against an IDF vehicle earlier in the day.

"We just struck a number of Hamas targets, including offensive naval equipment and 2 military compounds in Gaza," the IDF said in a tweet, as usual, emphasizing that Israel holds Hamas responsible for anything that happens in the enclave it governs.


The overnight raid comes after PM Benjamin Netanyahu - who is aggressively campaigning for re-election after his failure to secure a coalition government - vowed a "vigorous response" to Hamas. On the previous night, Israeli tanks shelled an observation post in Gaza, in response to a barrage of rockets hitting Israeli soil.

Comment: Israel: the paragon of 'proportionality'. They don't even pretend to condemn collective punishment - they fully embrace it. That's just one of the reasons Israel is a criminal state.

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Eiffel Tower

France rejects Brexit delay: 'We can't do this every three months'


The Local, France
Sun, 08 Sep 2019 18:52 UTC
le drian
© GERARD JULIEN / AFP
The deadline is now scheduled for October 31 but has been further clouded by the political turmoil in London.

"In the current circumstances, it's no! ... We are not going to go through this every three months," Le Drian said on Le Grand Rendez-vous Europe1/CNEWS/Les Echos programme.

"The (British) say that they want to put forward other solutions, alternative arrangements so that they can leave," he said, referring to Prime Minister Boris Johnson's efforts to find a way out of the backstop mechanism for Northern Ireland, the main sticking point.

"But we have not seen them and so it is 'no'... let the British authorities tell us the way forward," he said.

"Let them take responsibility for their situation. It's very worrying. They have to tell us what they want."

Britain was originally meant to leave the European Union on March 29 but with parliament deadlocked the British government ended up negotiating two delays, the latest to October 31.

Comment: See also:

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Star of David

Netanyahu distances himself from son's tweets about Rabin killing Israelis & Holocaust survivors


RT
Sun, 08 Sep 2019 18:21 UTC
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with his son, Yair

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with his son, Yair
Benjamin Netanyahu has distanced himself from his son Yair's tweets about assassinated Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, which accused him of murdering Holocaust survivors and causing the death of 2,000 Israelis.

The Israeli prime minister said in a statement that he doesn't agree with his son's statements, writing that Yair's "positions are his alone."

Yair had claimed Rabin "murdered Holocaust survivors on the Altalena," referring to a 1948 incident of fighting between the newly-formed IDF, of which Rabin was a commander, and the Jewish militia group Irgun. The incident involved the IDF shooting at the Altalena ship that had been carrying arms and recruits from Europe, but had offloaded its passengers before fighting began.

He also said that the former Labour Party prime minister "caused the deaths of 2,000 Israelis" when he brought Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat "and tens of thousands of terrorists" back from Tunis, Tunisia, where they were based before peace talks began ahead of signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993.

The since-deleted tweets were in response to Democratic Camp MK Stav Shaffir's comments to an Israeli journalist that Netanyahu should not be compared to Rabin. "Rabin boldly led the country toward a peace agreement. Bibi is suspected of bribery, fraud and breach of trust," Shaffir wrote.

Comment: Yair may be a total slimeball, but he was actually right about one thing: the early Jewish terrorists in Palestine killed plenty of Jews. Just research the SS Patria explosion. Haganah "accidentally" killed 267 Jewish refugees from Europe. That was just one example of many.

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