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'Not our minister': Migrant NGO's demand Germany's Seehofer change stance on migration or resign


RT
Sun, 16 Sep 2018 05:40 UTC
Maassen/Seehofer
© Kay Nietfeld/Global Look Press
German spy chief Hans-Georg Maassen • Interior Minister Horst Seehofer
Two dozen migrant and anti-racist groups have penned a letter demanding that German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer change his stance on migration or leave office following his comments in the wake of protests in Chemnitz.

"An interior minister for everyone should not divide the society any further but instead clearly take a stand for the core values of our country," read an open letter titled "Not our interior minister." It was signed by more than 20 groups, including several associations of Turkish, Polish and Serbian communities, as well as pro-migration, pro-diversity and anti-fascist groups.

The document called on Seehofer to change his behavior and "finally take the right-wing threat seriously." It also said that the signatories are "extremely concerned" by the fact that far-right extremists are dominating the news and shouting: "Foreigners, get out!"

"We are concerned that out children cannot safely and freely move everywhere because of their appearance, name or beliefs," the signatories said, adding that the interior minister should make "sure that we do not need to be concerned about the wellbeing of our children."

The letter then claimed that Seehofer 'did nothing about that,' suggesting that he should alter his stance or "resign and leave office."

Comment: Will Seehofer stand his ground or go back once again to the drawing board? See also:

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Rocket

Syrian air defense thwarted an 'Israeli missile attack' near Damascus International Airport


RT
Sat, 15 Sep 2018 19:10 UTC
Damascus defense missiles
© Hummam Sheikh Ali/Xinhua/Global Look Press
Syrian air defense missiles are seen in the sky over the city of Damascus.
Syrian Army air defenses have intercepted several "Israeli missiles" over Damascus International Airport, state news agency SANA reported, citing a military source. "Our air defense systems thwarted an Israeli missile aggression," the source said. A SANA reporter meanwhile reported sounds of explosions in the vicinity of the airport.

An Israeli military spokeswoman declined to comment on the reported incident, when approached by Reuters, saying "we don't comment on foreign reports."


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Cut

Texas State Board of Education votes to cut Hillary Clinton's name from student curriculum


RT
Sun, 16 Sep 2018 03:01 UTC
Hillary Clinton
© Aaron P. Bernstein/Reuters
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
Students in Texas will not be obliged to learn about Hillary Clinton in their history class, but will discuss the impact of Moses on the nation's founding documents, following a vote by the State Board of Education.

The move, which is so far preliminary, is an effort to streamline the curriculum, according to the Dallas Morning News. Teachers told the outlet that students have too many figures to learn about, turning their studies into a mere memory exercise. So, a volunteer group of teachers has been appointed by the board to grade the significance of various people. Clinton scored five on the 20-point scale.

The former Democratic Party candidate - the first woman to run for president - was not the only historic figure to be earmarked for erasure from the state curriculum in the traditionally Republican state.

Helen Keller, the first blind and deaf person to become a college graduate, may also be removed from the mandatory list of historic figures taught at Texas schools if the proposal is approved at a final vote in November after a designated period of public response expires.

The move has been touted by the board as a time-saving measure. The removal of Clinton is estimated to save teachers some 30 minutes, while Keller's exit from the curriculum will allow them to save another 40 minutes. The amendments to the statewide curriculum are bound to affect some 5.4 million public school students, if adopted.

Comment: Paying the price of irrelevance due to incompetence, criminality and evil nature, Clinton is deemed not worth 30 minutes of study.

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Question

George Ades: What if Russia would decide to close all of Syrian airspace?

George Ades
Fort Russ News
Sat, 15 Sep 2018 18:55 UTC
Putin erdogan netanyahu
© Fort Russ News
With a warning Israel, NATO, and Turkey?

SUPPOSING SUPPOSING.... What if Putin takes seriously the threat from the US and its minions that they would militarily respond to any attack on their favourite terrorists in Syria ...with "unprecedented force...." , and after consultations with his military advisers he decides on the following course of action:

Comment:

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Black Magic

Manafort indictment also implicates creepy Tony Podesta, Clinton-connected superlobbyist

Chuck Ross
The Daily Caller
Fri, 14 Sep 2018 11:30 UTC
tony podesta
  • Clinton-connected lobbyist Tony Podesta knew he was working with Paul Manafort on behalf of a Ukrainian politician, according to an indictment released Friday by the special counsel's office.
  • Podesta, Manafort and Mercury Public Affairs all failed to register as foreign agents of Ukraine for the work.
  • Manafort entered a plea agreement with the special counsel Friday.
Two lobbying firms, including one owned by Democratic superlobbyist Tony Podesta, knowingly worked with Paul Manafort at the direction of the Ukrainian government, according to an indictment released Friday by the special counsel's office.

Comment: For more background on the kind of person Tony Podesta is, see: Progressive liberal values: Tony Podesta's creepy taste in art, the creepy people he hangs out with, and Pizzagate

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Bad Guys

Syrian army discovers more Israeli weapons at ISIS locations in Daraa


Sputnik
Sun, 16 Sep 2018 13:46 UTC
israeli weapons in syria
© Youtube / Syrian Ministry of Defense
Syrian government forces regularly carry out mop-up operations in provinces liberated from terrorist and militant groups and have on multiple occasions discovered caches and depots of ammunition and weapons made in Western countries and Israel.

During a combing operation on Saturday, the Syrian army found loads of cannons, RPGs, rockets, small arms and ammunition, including Israeli, in one of Daesh's former strongholds in Hawz Yarmouk in western Daraa province, Fars News Agency reported.

This is not the first time that the Syrian army has stumbled upon depots full of foreign-made arms left behind by militants in Daraa.

Comment: For more information:

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Info

Analyst believes US sanctions 'bill from hell' targeting Russian debt could backfire on Western allies


RT
Sun, 16 Sep 2018 15:17 UTC
Washington
© Jonathan Ernst / Reuters
The proposed US sanctions targeting Russian bonds, OFZs, will likely hurt not only Moscow, but also numerous holders of such bonds in the West, an analyst has said.

The measure was proposed by a group of US senators lead by Republican Lindsey Graham. The senator said he planned a "sanctions bill from hell" to punish Russia because "the current sanctions regime has failed to deter Russia from meddling in the upcoming 2018 midterm elections."

But the US Congress is unlikely to pass the bill, which includes restrictions on Russian sovereign debt transactions, experts tell RT.

"Cracking down on seven largest Russian state banks, the way it is described in the US bill, is unlikely. How will these banks and companies working through them settle on debt and contractual obligations in dollars with Western counterparties?" according to Peter Pushkarev, chief analyst at TeleTrade.
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Radar

Flightpath of US high-altitude drone near Crimea revealed by tracking website


RT
Sun, 16 Sep 2018 15:09 UTC
RH-4 Global Hawk drone
© Northrop Grumman
A US military high-altitude Global Hawk drone has reportedly been spotted flying an hours-long spy mission over eastern Ukraine and off the shore of Crimea along with another American surveillance plane.

The RQ-4 Global Hawk cruised over war-torn eastern Ukraine before coming within 40km of the Crimean coast. PlaneRadar website, which tracks military flights worldwide, reported the mission in a series of tweets on Saturday.

It is understood that the unmanned aircraft took off at around 9:00am GMT from a US Navy installation at NATO Base Sigonella in Sicily, Italy.
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Chess

War in Syria: Why Tehran summit failed to ease Idlib tensions

Sami Moubayed
Gulf News
Sat, 15 Sep 2018 00:00 UTC
Russia and Iran differed with Turkey on several major issues around the upcoming offensive, leading to an impasse and collapse of talks
Rouhani , Putin & Erdogan
The three-way summit that concluded in Tehran recently has failed, rather dramatically, raising fears on what might be in store for the region in the weeks to come as Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani part ways, albeit temporarily, with their Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
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Biohazard

Swiss lab spy games support the theory that Novichok WASN'T used in Salisbury

Tom Secker
Medium.com
Sat, 15 Sep 2018 12:20 UTC
labor spiez

The Spiez Laboratory in Switzerland
The last 24 hours of the Novichok saga has seen a new twist - European media are widely reporting that two Russian spies were caught attempting to either hack or break into the Spiez laboratory in Switzerland that was examining samples from the Salisbury poisoning. While this announcement of an event that happened months ago is clearly designed to bolster the British government's account, in reality it does the opposite.

The Spiez Laboratory Story

Beginning with Dutch and Swiss media on Thursday night, reports claim that Dutch military intelligence (working with other intelligence agencies including British) detained two men at The Hague in late March, around four weeks after the Skripals were poisoned. They were suspected to be GRU agents and reportedly had equipment to help them break into the lab, which was examining samples from both Salisbury and from suspected chemical weapons attacks in Syria.

The two men - who have not been named or identified in any way - were sent back to Russia so none of this will ever be placed before a court or properly examined. The news reports of the last 36 hours are contradictory on the question of whether this was an attempted cyber-attack (i.e. hacking into the lab's computer system) or a physical break-in.

Most of the reports say this was a hacking attempt, echoing other reports from late July saying that Russian hackers were either trying to or had successfully hacked the Swiss lab.

Comment: This Swiss government has confirmed that it was an 'attempted' hack.
Switzerland summoned the Russian ambassador to protest an "attempted attack" as Moscow rejected the allegations, the latest Western claim about Russian spying and other acts of interference.
...
The confirmation by Switzerland's Federal Intelligence Service (FIS) to AP on September 14 came after reports by the Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad and the Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger that two Russians suspected of working for Russian military intelligence, known as the GRU, were kicked out of the Netherlands earlier this year as part of a Europe-wide investigation.
...
"The Swiss authorities are aware of the case of Russian spies discovered in The Hague and expelled from the same place," FIS spokeswoman Isabelle Graber said in an e-mail to AP. She said the agency helped prevent "illegal actions against a critical Swiss infrastructure," and declined further comment.

Switzerland's Foreign Ministry said on September 14 that it summoned Russia's ambassador to "protest against this attempted attack" and demanded that Russia "immediately" end its spying activities on Swiss soil.

But Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov dismissed the charges and questioned why it took so long to come to public light.

"I cannot suppose that such an occurrence, in which the specialists of three Western countries participated, could remain out of the field of view of the mass media," Lavrov said on September 14 after meeting with his German counterpart in Berlin, Russian news agencies said.

The AFP news agency reported on September 15 that the two Russians expelled from the Netherlands are also being investigated by Swiss authorities for an attempted cyberattack on the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
Very interesting news. If Tom Secker is correct, and Lavrov's revelation that the poison used in Salisbury was identified as BZ, perhaps events played out something like this: Russian spies succeeded in either physically penetrating or hacking Spiez, obtaining the evidence that BZ was used. They were caught, but a deal was worked out to keep it covered up. The Russians got sent back to Russia with a light slap on the wrist, as they now had proof that the West was engaging in a vast propaganda war to blame Russia for the Salisbury despite finding possibly exculpatory evidence.

If this scenario is at all plausible, perhaps a similar one could apply to the news that the same spies were caught "trying" to hack WADA. After all, WADA are now being strangely rational in their decision to reinstate RUSADA despite vociferous calls for them to continue with their previously anti-Russian policy.

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