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Fri, 05 Nov 2021
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Western aggression: NATO conducting naval drills in Black Sea with 25 military vessels taking part

naval drills
© Stoyan Nenov / Reuters
The active stage of the Breeze 2016 international naval exercise has been launched on the Black Sea on Monday. Aimed at improving coordination in crisis response and training of NATO-led naval operations, the drills will last till July 17.

Held every year, the drills officially began on Friday in Bulgaria's territorial waters and exclusive economic zone, and on the coast off Burgas.

As many as 25 military vessels, two planes, two helicopters and some 1,700 personnel are taking part in the exercise conducted in the international waters, reports Sofia New Agency.

All NATO member states of the Black Sea region, namely Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey, are taking part in the drills, also attended by warships from Greece and Spain. The exercise also involves NATO associates Ukraine and Georgia.

Star of David

The Jewish State: Israeli MKs promise not to debate 'IDF Christian volunteer' bill during Arab holiday, do so anyway

idf soldier
© Yannis Behrakis / Reuters
A Knesset committee has approved a bill prescribing jail terms to anyone who discourages Christians - including Christian Arabs - from volunteering for military service or advocates desertion. Activists say the bill violates Arab citizens' "freedom of expression."

The bill was given the go-ahead by the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee last week, according to Haaretz. Arab members of the Israeli Knesset had criticized the initiative arguing this would violate freedom of expression. It comes amid the ongoing debate in Arab communities on whether Christians should in fact volunteer for military service.

"Everyone has the right to express their opinion, especially in view of the disagreement in the Christian community on joining the army," Osama Saadia, an Israeli Arab lawyer and politician, member of Knesset from The Joint List, told Haaretz on Sunday.


Comment: What 'right'? Israel is NOT a democracy.


"The fact that they held the discussion despite the agreement not to do so is suspicious and inappropriate," he added.

Bullseye

Attempt to exclude Russia from the Council of Europe is another blatant attempt to escalate tensions between Europe and Russia

Council of Europe chamber

Council of Europe chamber in Strasbourg
In an article[1] also published in German in DIE ZEIT and on EurActiv.de, Susan Stewart of the Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), an organisation which advises the German government, called for Russia to be excluded from the Council of Europe, as there is allegedly no longer any justification for it to remain.

In doing so, she pushes two arguments that fail to convince: Russia's relationship to the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and the human rights situation in Crimea. The discussion behind this leads to the question of whether we should opt to harden the bloc confrontation approach, or whether efforts should be undertaken to keep channels of communication and influence open with Russia in the interests of pan-European unity.

Eye 2

Killary's fingerprints are all over the Libyan disaster

Clinton What difference does it make?
I am going to share with you four devastating emails sent and received by Hillary Clinton on the subject of Libya. You can find these posted at Wikileaks. It is clear in reading these exchanges that, in the glow of the fall of Muammar Gaddafi, Hillary embraced the call to spike the football and clearly was planning to use Libya as evidence of her leadership and skill that qualified her to become President.

The attack on our diplomats and CIA officers in Benghazi on 11 September 2012 however, destroyed that dream. The dream became a nightmare and Hillary has scrambled to pretend that she was not the mover-and-shaker that destabilized Libya and made it a safe haven for ISIS, aka radical Islamists.

Megaphone

Deutsche Bank chief economist: Europe is extremely sick, banking crisis could spread to entire EU

rome palace
© Max Rossi / Reuters
The Italian national flag flutters atop of the Quirinale presidential palace in Rome.
Brussels urgently needs a €150 billion bailout to begin a major recapitalization program for its banks, according to Deutsche Bank's David Folkerts-Landau.

In the aftermath of UK's Brexit vote, the focus of attention has switched to Italy's banking sector, which has accumulated €360 billion in bad loans, and growing.

A former member of the ECB executive board Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, and now chairman at Societe Generale, has warned the banking crisis in Italy could spread to the entire EU.

"Europe is extremely sick and must start dealing with its problems extremely quickly, or else there may be an accident. I'm no doomsday prophet, I am a realist," he said in an interview to Welt am Sonntag.

Bad Guys

Western lies about Syria and crimes against humanity are leading us to the unthinkable

Aleppo shelled
© Mikhail Voskresenskiy / Sputnik
Aleppo district shelled by militants
Corporate media messaging about the war on Syria is corrupt to an unprecedented level, despite years of sustainable evidence that contradicts the lies.

The "West", including U.S. - led NATO, the Persian Gulf Monarchies, and Israel, are waging a proxy war against Syria. ISIS or Daesh is the designated enemy, but it has long been (publicly) acknowledged that the real enemy is President Assad of Syria, not ISIS. All of the invading, un-islamic mercenary terrorists are the West's "strategic assets," including ISIS. Engineered islamophobia is all part of the Western psy- op to demonize all Muslims, to create fear, to create racism, and to create hatred — vital components for illegal wars of aggression.

Top Secret

Leaked tapes reveal West's support for 'renegade' Libyan, General Khalifa Haftar

Haftar
© www.theguardian.com
General Khalifa Haftar
A multinational military operation involving British, French and US forces is coordinating air strikes in support of a renegade general battling Islamist militia groups from a base near Benghazi in eastern Libya, air traffic recordings obtained by Middle East Eye [MEE] reveal. The leaked tapes appear to confirm earlier reports suggesting the existence of an international operations centre that is helping General Khalifa Haftar in his campaign to gain control of eastern Libya from groups he has declared to be "extremists".


Comment: The international operations center is reported to house teams from Italy, Jordan, UAE, US, France and UK to operate drones for recon operations, train Libyan forces and collect intel data.


At least one air strike was heard being coordinated in the tapes, which total just under an hour in length, suggesting the operations room is being used not only for reconnaissance. The recordings were passed to MEE from the Benina air base, which is considered to be Haftar's most important military facility. The leaks could prove damaging for the international parties involved because Haftar has refused to support the UN-backed unity government in Tripoli and has been fighting some groups that have taken part in the Western-backed campaign against the Islamic State (IS) group.

Comment: Only the West would see Haftar's effect on IS as a problem. Apparently some Haftar-support coalition members do not.

See also:


Snakes in Suits

Theresa May to replace David Cameron as UK prime minister on Wednesday

cameron may
© Toby Melville / Reuters
Theresa May will succeed David Cameron as Prime Minister on Wednesday evening after May's challenger in the Conservative leadership race, Andrea Leadson, pulled out of the contest.

Cameron announced he will offer his resignation to the Queen after chairing his final Cabinet meeting and attending his last Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday.

"We are not going to have a prolonged leadership election campaign. I think Andrea Leadsom made absolutely the right decision to stand aside. It is clear Theresa May has the overwhelming support of the Conservative parliamentary party," he told assembled press outside Downing Street.

"I'm also delighted that Theresa May will be the next prime minister. She is strong, she is competent, she's more than able to provide the leadership the country is going to need in the years ahead and she will have my full support."

Eye 1

'Poke in the eye': NATO tizzies that Greece is ruining its united front on Russia

guy eye poke
© www.coldbacon.com
NATO's self-infliction.
The North Atlantic Alliance is apparently worried that its supposedly united front against Russia has in fact been falling apart at the seams as evidenced among other things by the increasing cooperation between Athens, a NATO member and Moscow in areas including energy, tourism and defense.

A joint project aimed at producing Kalashnikov rifles in Greece seems to be of particular concern to NATO. The initiative, according to Greek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos, could get the green light as soon as anti-Russian sanctions are lifted.

"The fact that a strategically important NATO country like Greece is trying to build its own relationship with Moscow could seriously undermine the alliance's ability to present a united front to deter further acts of Russian aggression," an unnamed NATO official told the Telegraph.


Comment: In other words, they were undermined to do nothing. Russia, so far. has not displayed acts of aggression, only defense.


The bloc's senior officials and military commanders have cited the non-existent Russian threat and the country's purportedly "aggressive" behavior to justify the alliance's unprecedented military buildup in Eastern Europe, the Baltic region and most recently the Black Sea.

Comment: No Defections Allowed! NATO's reasons and excuses are but a thin veneer to keep the EU herd managed and united. Any deviance from the NATO mask of lies might just crack the whole thing open, to be seen for the sham it is. This is the one risk NATO isn't willing to take. None for one, and all for all. By accusing Russia of turning heads, it accomplishes at least two things: reprimand for the straying member, and another reason to publicly denounce and threaten Russia. If Russia acts, in NATO's mind it "proves" NATO was right...a scenario it desperately needs; one we hope it never gets.


Vader

NATO: Lying its way to a new Operation Barbarossa

NATO Warsaw summit logo
© Associated Press/Jonathan Ernst
Despite claims made during NATO Summit Warsaw 2016, that "NATO remains a fundamental source of security for our people, and stability for the wider world," it is clear that the threats and challenges NATO poses as existing to confront are in fact threats of its own, intentional creation and continued perpetuation.

From the ongoing refugee crisis triggered by NATO's own global-spanning and ongoing military interventions, invasions, and occupations, to its continued expansion along Russia's borders - violating every convention and "norm" that existed during the Cold War to keep it "cold," NATO has proven that it is to the populations it poses as protector over, in fact, their greatest threat.

In particular, the summit in Warsaw, Poland centered on NATO's expanding military presence along Russia's borders, particularly in the Baltic nations of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, as well as in Poland itself.

The summit also covered ongoing NATO involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq, two nations so far beyond the Atlantic states the alliance allegedly was founded to protect, it would be comical if the consequences of their far-reaching meddling weren't so serious.