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Syrian ceasefire update: New opposition group formed at Russian air base, Russians dismayed at U.S.-vouched group's ceasefire violations


ITAR-TASS
Mon, 14 Mar 2016 18:30 UTC
hmeimim
© Valeriy Sharifulin/TASS More: http://tass.ru/en/world/862052

Comment: In the last two days, the Russians have had several consultations with local Syrians. This seems to be the result: an opposition group formed by real Syrians, not the violent hordes of foreign mercenaries and thrill-seekers supported by the U.S. and their allies. And while Russia continues to make constructive moves to foster actual democracy in Syria, the U.S.'s contrary intentions continue to be exposed. From today's bulletin on the results of the ceasefire:
In the course of the teleconferences, the Russian party expressed dismay at ceasefire violations near Kafr Nabudah (Hama province) carried out by opposition detachments, which had been put by the American party into list of detachments joined the ceasefire regime and located in assigned areas.
It was bound to happen sooner or later.


A new Syrian opposition group has been formed at a meeting at Russia's Hmeimim base and it may come to Geneva, Russian Ambassador to the UN and other international organizations in Geneva Alexey Borovavkin told TASS on Monday.

"We are pleased to note that the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, and his office have welcomed the formation of a new moderate opposition group," the diplomat said. "Staffan de Mistura has promised to negotiate the issue of inviting representatives of this group to the Geneva negotiations."

According to Borodavkin, this group comprises oppositionists who live and work in Syria but who have not been included in the political structure that is currently in power.
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Attention

'Objectives achieved': Putin orders start of Russian military withdrawal from Syria


RT
Mon, 14 Mar 2016 18:04 UTC
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu
© kremlin.ru
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu to start the withdrawal of forces from Syria starting Tuesday.

"I consider the objectives that have been set for the Defense Ministry to be generally accomplished. That is why I order to start withdrawal of the main part of our military group from the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic starting from tomorrow," Putin said on Monday during a meeting with Shoigu and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Moscow launched its anti-terror campaign in Syria on September 30 last year. Russia's participation in the operation, according to a previous statement by Putin, has its basis in international law and has been conducted "in accordance with an official request from the president of the Syrian Arab Republic [Bashar Assad]."

Comment: In the same conversation, Assad also expressed his hopes for the Geneva UN talks currently in progress:
"The Syrian leader underlined his readiness to implement the political process in the country," the [Kremlin] press service said in a statement. "He expressed hope that the full-format talks between the Syrian government and opposition in Geneva under the UN aegis will bring concrete results."
Moon of Alabama asks:
I believe that, for this to have happened, there must be a deal in place with the U.S. to wind up the Syria situation. What did Putin get in return? And what units will actually pull out? Three military cooks departing while civilians take up their jobs?

The tide of the war on Syria has changed. There is no longer a danger that Assad will lose the fight.

There were some Russian artillery and special forces units taking part in the ground operations in north Latakia. Latakia is now mostly cleaned up and the Russian bases there are no longer in danger. (The S-400 air defense will of course stay.) Will these troops now be pulled out?

Or is this, as announced, an "incentive" to put some urgency on progress in the Geneva negotiations? (An "incentive" that can be taken back should it not have the intended results.)


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Mail

Lavrov: 'Bring Kurds onboard' to peace talks in Geneva, ignore Turkey's opposition and ultimatums


RT
Mon, 14 Mar 2016 00:15 UTC
Syrian Kurds
© www.dailysabah.com
Of the Syrian Kurds, according to President Assad: They are not foreigners, they are fully integrated into society, some for many generations. They are part of the Syrian fabric.
Moscow strongly insists that the Kurds be invited to the the upcoming Syrian peace talks in Geneva, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, suggesting that leaving them out could endanger Syria's territorial integrity. "If the Kurds are 'thrown out' of the negotiations on Syria's future, how can you expect them to want to remain within this state?" Lavrov said in an interview with Russian REN TV channel aired on Sunday. "We believe that the process, which starts in Geneva, must necessarily include the Kurds, if we all mean what we say in declaring our commitment to Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity."

The minister also stressed that Russia will press the UN not to "surrender to 'ultimatums' and invite the Kurds to the table of the negotiation process right from the start." In mentioning ultimatums, Lavrov was apparently pointing a finger at Turkey, which strongly opposes the Kurds' involvement in the Syrian peace process, despite them being one of the most successful forces fighting Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) in Syria, along with the Syrian army.

According to the minister, while opposing the advances of the Kurdish forces, Ankara itself has been setting up certain zones of control within Syria. "While demanding that the Kurds be prevented from consolidating their positions in Syria, Turkey meanwhile has started to declare its sovereign right to create some sort of security zones on Syrian territory. According to our information, they have been 'entrenching' inside Syria just a few hundred meters from the border," Russia's top diplomat said.


Comment: UN envoy/mediator to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, agrees with Lavrov that Syrian Kurds, who occupy and control about 15% of Syria, are an important part of the country and should be allowed to express their opinions on Syria's future. As the deck is being stacked against Turkey's demands, all eyes will be on Erdogan.

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Eye 2

The real history of the '90s: Bill Clinton's odious presidency

Thomas Frank
Salon
Mon, 14 Mar 2016 13:33 UTC
young bill clinton '90s
© Associated Press

Democratic presidential nominee Bill Clinton gives the thumbs up sign as he speaks to a gathering at the University of Toledo in 1992.

Comment: Keep in mind while reading that Killary was part and parcel of the horrors detailed below, that her husband's administration produced. If anything she is an enthusiastic torchbearer of his failed policies.


Welfare reform. NAFTA. The crime bill. Prisons. Aides wondered if Bill knew who he was. His legacy is sadly clear

Excerpted from Thomas Frank's new book, Listen, Liberal

Everyone remembers the years of the Bill Clinton presidency as good times. The economy was booming, the stock market was ascending, and the mood was infectious. You felt good about it even if you didn't own a single share.

And yet: What did Clinton actually do in his eight years on Pennsylvania Avenue? While writing this book, I would periodically ask my liberal friends if they could recall the progressive laws he got passed, the high-minded policies he fought for—you know, the good things Bill Clinton got done while he was president. Why was it, I wondered, that we were supposed to think so highly of him—apart from his obvious personal charm, I mean?

It proved difficult for my libs. People mentioned the obvious things: Clinton once raised the minimum wage and expanded the Earned Income Tax Credit. He balanced the budget. He secured a modest tax increase on the rich. And he did propose a national health program, although it didn't get very far and was in fact so poorly designed it could be a model of how not to do big policy initiatives.

Other than that, not much. No one could think of any great but hopeless Clintonian stands on principle; after all, this is the guy who once took a poll to decide where to go on vacation. His presidency was all about campaign donations, not personal bravery—he basically rented out the Lincoln Bedroom, for chrissake, and at the end of his time in office he even appeared to sell a presidential pardon.
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Ambulance

Al-Qaeda gunmen attack Ivory Coast beach resort hotels, 16 dead, includes 4 Europeans


RT
Sun, 13 Mar 2016 15:22 UTC
evacuation
© Photo: AFP/Getty
Ivorian security forces evacuate people after heavily armed gunmen opened fire at a hotel in the Ivory Coast beach resort of Grand-Bassam
An Al-Qaeda branch has claimed responsibility for an attack that killed 16 people at the Grand-Bassam beach resort on Cote d'Ivoire, which is known for being popular with Westerners. Reports claim that four of the victims are Europeans. Two gunmen opened fire on a beach, injuring several people, a local tourist guide told France24. According to Reuters, there were four gunmen involved in the attack.

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb has claimed responsibility for the assault, according to the SITE Intelligence Group.

Six assailants have been neutralized in the police operation so far, Cote d'Ivoire's Interior Ministry said."Three hotels in Grand Bassam were attacked this Sunday by armed men. Security and defense forces intervened immediately and were able to neutralize six terrorists. The clean-up operation is under way," Interior Minister Hamed Bakayoko said on state television.

The assailants, who were "heavily armed and wearing balaclavas, fired at guests at the L'Etoile du Sud (Southern Star), a large hotel which was full of expats in the current heatwave," a witness told AFP.

A combined total of sixteen people, including fourteen civilians and two soldiers, were killed in the attack, Cote d'Ivoire President Alassane Ouattara said. "Six attackers came onto the beach in Bassam this afternoon ... We have 14 civilians and two special forces soldiers who were unfortunately killed," said Ouattara, who visited the site where the assault took place.


Comment: These tragedies need not have happened. The victims (namely the Westerner targets) were useful to get headlines on what...a slow day for al-Qaeda? And were they al-Qaeda? France still has a strong tie with Cote d'Ivoire as its former colonial power (hence Hollande's insistence to immediate pursuit intensified with logistical support and intel). So does Israel, most consistently since 1986. If puppet masters are at play here, there may be more than meets the eye with these events.

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Bad Guys

Daesh attempted to assassinate Iraqi Kurdish leader


Sputnik
Mon, 14 Mar 2016 13:18 UTC
Kemal Kerküki
© Sputnik/ Hikmet Durgu
Iraqi Kurdistan parliament speaker and Peshmerga leader Kemal Kerküki was nearly assassinated in an attack by the Daesh terrorist group, he told Sputnik Turkiye.

"Daesh fighters planned to blow up booby-trapped cars around where our units were located, but Peshmerga forcess prevented the terrorist attack," Kerküki told Sputnik Turkiye.

He added that of the six Daesh fighters planning the attack, one blew himself up, while the rest were killed by Peshmerga soldiers.
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Radar

Russian Defense Ministry developing stealth military bridges


ITAR-TASS
Mon, 14 Mar 2016 13:12 UTC
Russian military bridge
© Yuri Smityuk/TASS, archive
The Russian Defense Ministry jointly with domestic defense contractors is developing demountable auto bridges invisible for the potential enemy's detection systems, Deputy Defense Minister Dmitry Bulgakov said on Monday.

"The bridges must be invisible for [the enemy's] modern detection means to raise the survivability of bridge-crossing," he said.

According to Bulgakov, the new structures are being developed of composite and other innovation materials to facilitate the bridges' assembly and reduce their weight while the carrying capacity and the length of the bridge spans will be increased.
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Bad Guys

Oops: Report of American ISIS fighter arrested in Iraq after 'mistaking it for Turkish border'


RT
Mon, 14 Mar 2016 13:07 UTC
Iraq army
© Azad Lashkari / Reuters
An Islamic State fighter from the US was arrested in Iraq after emerging from territory controlled by the militant group in Syria, a local commander told Kurdish media. The man reportedly mistook the area for the Turkish border.

A local commander told Kurdish news outlet Rudaw that the arrested man was Muhammad Jamal Amin, a Virginia-born US citizen of a Palestinian father and an Iraqi mother.

The commander said that Kurdish forces fired on the man before he reached their base near Sinjar, and later detained him.

A number of cell phones, some money, and ID cards were seized from the militant.
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Attention

Suspicious: US embassy issued warning on impending Ankara attack 2 days before Sunday's blast


RT
Mon, 14 Mar 2016 12:54 UTC
Ankara car bomb explosion
© Stringer / Reuters
The US embassy in Turkey issued a security warning to American citizens two days before a blast caused by a suicide car bomb hit the center of Ankara on Sunday evening. At least 37 people were killed and 125 injured in the explosion.

The American embassy had warned on its website about a "potential plot to attack Turkish government buildings and housing in the Bahcelievler neighborhood," in Çankaya District, where the Turkish National Library is located among other landmarks. "US citizens should avoid this area," the embassy stated.

"We advise US citizens to review their personal security plans, remain aware of your surroundings and local events, monitor local news stations for updates, and follow local authority instructions," it added on Friday.
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Snakes in Suits

Turkey may use Ankara attack as excuse to invade neighboring states


Sputnik
Mon, 14 Mar 2016 12:48 UTC
Turkish soldier
© AP Photo/ Lefteris Pitarakis
Kurdistan National Congress spokesman Selahattin Soro said that Turkey has plans for some military actions in neighboring countries.

The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) was not complicit in carrying out the recent terror attack in Ankara, but the blast may be used by the Turkish government as a pretext for interfering in the foreign affairs of neighboring states, Kurdistan National Congress spokesman Selahattin Soro said Monday.

Comment: Looks like the invasion has already begun.

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