Welcome to Sott.net
Fri, 05 Nov 2021
The World for People who Think

Puppet Masters
Map

Attention

Iran' IGRC seizes another ship carrying 'smuggled fuel' - UPDATE

Iranian Revolutionary Guard speedboat
© Assoicated Press/Vahid Salemi
An Iranian Revolutionary Guard speedboat
Iranian forces seized a ship in the Persian Gulf suspected of carrying smuggled fuel, state media reported Sunday, marking the Revolutionary Guard's third seizure of a vessel in recent weeks and the latest show of strength by the paramilitary force amid a spike in regional tensions.

State TV and the semi-official Fars news agency reported that seven crew members were detained when the ship was seized late Wednesday carrying 700,000 liters (185,000 gallons) of "smuggled fuel" from Iran. The local reports did not provide further details on the vessel or the nationality of the crew.

The news agency reported the ship was seized near Farsi Island, where a Revolutionary Guard naval base is located. The island sits in the Persian Gulf between Saudi Arabia and Iran, north of the Strait of Hormuz.

Comment: More from Sputnik:
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps has detained a foreign oil tanker in the Persian Gulf smuggling fuel to certain Arab nations. According to the IRGC, the tanker was detained on Wednesday, 31 July 2019.


"The IRGC's naval forces have seized a foreign oil tanker in the Persian Gulf that was smuggling fuel for some Arab countries", Press TV reported citing IRGC commander Ramezan Zirahi.

According to Iran's Guards commander, the seized vessel was carrying 700,000 litres of fuel. The commander added that the seven sailors of different nationalities onboard had been detained.

The vessel carrying the smuggled fuel has been transferred to Bushehr and the smuggled fuel delivered to the National Oil Products Distribution Company of Bushehr in accordance with Iranian law.
The IRGC has released a video of the seizure as reported by PressTV
:


RT adds:
A short video published by the Iranian channel Press TV on social media shows the IRGC patrol boats approaching the ship, which reportedly had as many as 700,000 liters of fuel on board. An IRGC commander told the media that the vessel was captured near the island of Farsi in the Persian Gulf on Wednesday.

The seized vessel is an Iraqi ship, the Iranian IRNA news agency said, citing the IRGC. It is still unclear who owns the tanker and where exactly it was heading, though. Seven crew members were arrested by the Iranian authorities. It is the third foreign tanker captured by Iran in the gulf over the past weeks. One of the ships had links with the United Arab Emirates while another one was a British-flagged vessel.



Bizarro Earth

The Last Western Empire? What does the collapse really mean?

Forest
© foreignaffairs.com
"Missing the forest for the trees" is an apt metaphor if we take a look at most commentary describing the past twenty years or so. This period has been remarkable in the number of genuinely tectonic changes the international system has undergone. It all began during what I think of as the "Kristallnacht of international law," 30 August September 1995, when the Empire attacked the Bosnian-Serbs in a direct and total violation of all the most fundamental principles of international law. Then there was 9/11, which gave the Neocons the "right" (or so they claimed) to threaten, attack, bomb, kill, maim, kidnap, assassinate, torture, blackmail and otherwise mistreat any person, group or nation on the planet simply because "we are the indispensable nation" and "you either are with the terrorists or with us". During these same years, we saw Europe become a third-rate US colony incapable of defending even fundamental European geopolitical interests while the US became a third-rate colony of Israel equally incapable of defending even fundamental US geopolitical interests.

Most interestingly looking back, while the US and the EU were collapsing under the weight of their own mistakes, Russia and China were clearly on the ascend; Russia mostly in military terms (see here and here) and China mostly economically. Most crucially, Russia and China gradually agreed to become symbionts which, I would argue, is even stronger and more meaningful than if these two countries were united by some kind of formal alliance: alliances can be broken (especially when a western nation is involved), but symbiotic relationships usually last forever (well, nothing lasts forever, of course, but when a lifespan is measured in decades, it is the functional equivalent of "forever", at least in geostrategic analytical terms). The Chinese have now developed an official, special, and unique expression to characterize that relationship with Russia. They speak of a "Strategic, comprehensive partnership of coordination for the new era."

Bizarro Earth

Thoughts, prayers & politics: Left & Right twist El Paso shootings to promote their agendas

el paso shooting
© Briana Sanchez/The El Paso Times via AP
People arrive at MacArthur Elementary looking for family and friends as the school is being used a re-unification center during the aftermath of a shooting at the Walmart near the Cielo Vista Mall, Saturday, Aug. 3, in El Paso, Texas. Multiple people were killed and one person was in custody after a shooter went on a rampage at a shopping mall, police in the Texas border town of El Paso said.
A shooting at a Walmart in Texas, where 20 people were killed, plunged the US into sorrow but also rekindled a political debate. The incident has become a case in point for gun control advocates, including presidential hopefuls.

A majority of high-profile politicians have relayed their condolences to the victims of the shooting rampage, refraining from pinning the blame on US President Donald Trump or his administration directly, like some did in the wake of the New Zealand mosque massacre in March, when they accused the US leader of inciting anti-Muslim violence with his rhetoric.

Instead, an array of Democratic presidential candidates, including frontrunner Joe Biden, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), Rep. Kamala Harris (D-Ca) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) used the occasion to drum up support for tougher gun control, while scolding Republicans for inaction.

Comment: The case is now being framed as "domestic terrorism":
"We are treating [the El Paso shooting] as a domestic terrorist case, there's a statutory definition of domestic terrorism .... this meets it. It appears to be designed to intimidate a civilian population," US Attorney for Western District of Texas John Bash said at a press conference, Sunday.


He added that "we're going to do what we do to terrorists in this country, which is to deliver swift and certain justice."

The shooter, earlier identified in the media as 21-year-old Patrick Crusius, was said to be cooperating with the investigation.

The suspect is believed to have bought the firearm used during the rampage legally, El Paso Police Chief Greg Allen said.

Prosecutors will be seeking the death penalty for the suspect.

The El Paso massacre took place early on Saturday when the suspect, armed with an AK-style rifle, stormed a local Walmart shooting people in the parking lot and inside the store. At least 20 people were killed and 26 more injured.

A "manifesto" was posted online before the rampage, apparently detailing the shooter's extreme-right views and branding the attack a response to the "Hispanic invasion" of Texas. The document is yet to be directly linked to the shooter, police said on Sunday.
In the meantime normal people did what normal people do, comfort each other and help:
Local media reported that blood donation centers were"overwhelmed" after hundreds answered the calls from police and city officials for people to donate blood for the victims.


Residents and reporters at the scene shared videos on social media of people standing in long lines outside and inside the facilities. Some stood for hours, waiting for their turn to help the victims.

"I went to go donate blood but the facility didn't have room for any more cars and the streets were flooded with people trying to get in," one person wrote.

"My mother and I went to donate blood and there is a line of hundreds of people around the block. All standing in 101 degree sun," another Twitter user said. "People can be wonderful."

Sandra Ramirez, an anchor at the local KTSM 9 News channel, said that volunteers were bringing pizza, water and energy drinks to people enduring the heat to stand in lines in front of the blood donation centers.


Transport service Lyft, meanwhile, had offered free rides to people wishing to donate blood in El Paso.

The inflow of donors helped nonprofit Vitalant to receive more than 240 units of blood for the victims in just one day, the organization said.



Dominoes

Devin Nunes comments on IG criminal referral and DOJ stance on James Comey

Devin Nunes and group
© Institute of World Politics/Gary Cameron/Reuters/Politico/Viral News Now/WSJ/Facebook/KJN
Devin Nunes (Center), Left: Page • Halper, Right: Comey • Brennan • Clapper
Devin Nunes on Biased Investigators:
"These are all a bunch of dirty cops and, I'll tell you, some of them better go to jail, or we're going to go down in a spiral in this country because you will not have a Republican that will trust the FBI or the Department of Justice for generations to come."
House Intelligence Committee ranking member Devin Nunes appears on Fox News with Tucker Carlson to discuss the ongoing investigative situation with James Comey.

Representative Nunes highlights the difference between Inspector General Michael Horowitz and U.S. Attorney John Durham; noting there is a possibility the investigative review of Mr. Durham touches on a great deal more than IG Horowitz.


Here's the opening statement by Tucker Carlson toward James Comey:


Stormtrooper

Tulsi Gabbard - the empire is coming for you...

Gabbard
© Lori Shaul/Flickr
Tulsi Gabbard
The second debate among Democratic hopefuls was notable for two things: The lack of common decency of most of them and Tulsi Gabbard's immense, career-ending attack on Kamala Harris' (D-Deep State) record as an Attorney General in California.

Harris came out of the first debate the clear winner and Gabbard cut her down to size with one of the single best minutes of political television since Donald Trump told Hillary Clinton, "Because you'd be in jail."

Gabbard's takedown of Harris was so spot on and her closing statement about the irresponsible nature of the Trump Administration's foreign policy was so powerful she had to be actively suppressed on Twitter. And, within minutes of the debate ending the media and the political machines moved into overdrive to smear her as a Russian agent, an Assad apologist and a favorite of the alt-right.

Now, folks, let me tell you something. I write and talk about Gabbard a lot and those to the right of me are really skeptical of her being some kind of plant for Israel or the establishment. If she were truly one of those she wouldn't have been polling at 1% going into that debate. She would have been promoted as Harris' strongest competition and served up for Harris to co-opt. That is not what happened!

Comment: More from author Tom Luongo:
Tulsi Gabbard lays bare the bankruptcy of American left for all to see


Target

Pepe Escobar: The hybrid war on Russia just keeps rolling

Putin/demonstration
© Reuters/Isaac Urrutia/Global Look PRess/Kremlin Pool
Opposition rally • Russian President Vladimir Putin
The latest demonstrations in Moscow are part of a crude hybrid war US strategy against Russia. But Russia is not easily pliable Brazil. Russians on the scene, sent me their impressions. Example:
"It was a farce. Incidents were created right before my eyes with one eye on the newsreels and the other on the police to be sure they were being filmed. There was nothing spontaneous. One demonstrator struck the police and then the cameras were turned on. This happened all over."
Crude hybrid war will be back. And sanctions remain. The ultimate target of sanctions - a neocon wet dream - would be to undermine the government of Russia for good, and replace it with a new Yeltsin mob to restart mass looting. You'll never read this in the WSJ or the FT, of course. The ultimate objective would be to break up Russia into twenty countries, as the Baltic states, and then loot one after another.

Every informed person in Russia knows that in Ukraine, oligarchs are looting and robbing the place blind - all that promoted as "independence from Russia". Ukro-oligarchs were even allowed to steal from IMF loans - as long as they were against Russia.

Two key vectors to watch. I'm not convinced by the actions of the Russian Central Bank. It definitely has not achieved independence from the US. And let's see if US Deep State actors manage to engineer cutting Russia off from SWIFT-CHIPS.

Bad Guys

Erdogan Says Turkey Will Carry Out Operation in Syria East of Euphrates

kurds leave manbij
© Facebook / Syrian Defense Ministry
Kurdish militia wave flags as they depart the city of Manbij in northern Syria, January 2, 2019
Turkey will launch an operation in Syria in the east of the Euphrates River, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, adding that Ankara already notified Russia and the United States about its plans.

"Now we would enter the [area] east of the Euphrates as we had entered Afrin, Jarablus, al-Bab [cities in Syria]. We shared this [information] with Russia and the United States", Erdogan announced during his speech in the city of Bursa in north-western Turkey.

He, however, did not reveal any other details about the upcoming operations, including the date of its start.

The territory in the east of the Euphrates is currently controlled by the self-defence forces which mainly include Kurdish-led militants.

Comment: Erdogan has threatened to conduct operations east of the Euphrates repeatedly over the past year or so, so we'll have to just wait and see if this time he's serious. For example (from October and December of last year): He also threatened to expand Turkey's Syria operation across the Euphrates in March of that year.


Boat

US pawn Australia to consider 'request' to join coalition protecting oil shipments in Persian Gulf

Pompeo/Payne
© AP/Rick Rycroft
US Sec of State Mike Pompeo • Australian FM Marise Payne
Australia is considering a "serious and complex" request from the United States to help protect oil shipments against Iranian interference in the Persian Gulf.

At their annual Australia-US Ministerial Consultations (AUSMIN) talks in Sydney, the defence and foreign ministers of both countries met for discussions that spanned tensions with China over the South China Sea and a possible role for Australia in the Strait of Hormuz.

Defence Minister Linda Reynolds confirmed she and Foreign Minister Marise Payne had canvassed the US request at Sunday's meeting but that "no decision had been made".
"We are deeply concerned by the heightened tensions in the region, and we are strongly condemning the attacks on shipping in the Gulf. The request the US has made is a serious and complex one, that's why we're giving this request serious consideration. We will ultimately as we always do, decide what's in our sovereign interests."
Describing the US-Australia alliance as "unbreakable", Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he hoped the junior ally would partner with America on "some of the most pressing foreign policy challenges of our time, including Iran's unprovoked attacks on international shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. I am very confident that we will have a global coalition."

Comment: See also:
Former Australian prime minister warns that U.S. is "a dangerous ally"


Footprints

Details emerge regarding infiltration attempt by Pakistani army

Indian soldier
© Danish Ismail/Reuters
Soldier at the wreckage of Indian Air Force's helicopter in Budgam district, Kashmir, 2019
Multiple attempts were made by terrorists to infiltrate into India by crossing the Line of Control between July 29 and July 31, sources told NDTV amid a massive security build-up in Jammu and Kashmir and the death of five infiltrators.

Intelligence agencies suggest that the terrorists are attempting a massive terror attack like the one that took place in Pulwama in February, where a suicide bomber targeted a convoy of the Central Reserve Police Forces and killed 40 personnel. Intelligence agencies said allowing the Amarnath Yatra to progress at this point is untenable.

One of the infiltration attempts was successful and four to five terrorists managed to enter, sources said. Besides, five men of Pakistan's Border Action Team or BAT were killed while they were trying to infiltrate into India and strike at a forward post in the Keran sector over the last two days.

Sources said it was a massive effort to target the Indian troops, which may have involved around 20 Pakistani regulars and terrorists. BATs usually try to maim or mutilate Indian soldiers by ambushing them. The BAT soldiers had crossed the Line of Control and the fence and they were eliminated only when they were very close to an Indian post in Keran.

Comment: More from RT: India test-fires 'quick reaction' air defense system
India has test-fired its state-of-the-art Quick Reaction Surface-to-Air Missile (QRSAM). The all-weather and all-terrain missile mounted on a truck successfully hit its targets during the tests conducted on Sunday at a range in the eastern Indian state of Odisha. The Indian defense minister has shared photos and a video of the missile launch on his Twitter account.

The new air defense system boasts an operational range of 25-30 kilometers. It is also equipped with anti-jamming devices allowing it to penetrate the enemy's defenses. The missile already underwent a series of trials in 2017 and in February 2019. On Sunday, two missiles were used to hit the targets flying at different altitudes under different conditions, Indian media reported citing military sources, who hailed the system's high maneuverability.




Sherlock

Is UAE about to change sides and support the Yemeni Resistance?

fort russ yemen
© Fort Russ News
Abdul-Khaleq Abdullah, a former aide to Emirati Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Zayed, said in a tweet that the war against Yemen is over for Abu Dhabi. In a tweet late on Saturday, Abdullah asserted that the UAE involvement in the Saudi-led war against Yemen is over and it will be soon announced officially.

"The UAE, from now on, will put all its political and diplomatic weight behind resolving the crisis and establishing peace for the people of Yemen," the senior Emirati figure underlined in his post.

In response to Abdullah's tweet, Ania El Afandi, an Algerian journalist, posted a tweet asking the Emirati figure why the UAE did not put its political weight, from the very outset, behind efforts for materializing peace. Then the Arab journalist questioned the game-over rhetoric of Abdullah, asking:

"War should come to an end officially, are your words addressing Saudi Arabia? Thirdly, will the blockade against Qatar be lifted if issues with Iran are solved?" she concluded.

Comment: See also: "Unwinnable": UAE withdrawing from Saudi-led war on Yemen