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Saudi Arabia sees Israel as an ally, says Netanyahu


Press TV
Sat, 23 Jan 2016 11:12 UTC
Netanyahu
© AFP
Netanyahu at the World Economic Forum
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Saudi Arabia now sees Tel Aviv "as an ally rather as an enemy" as he claims "a great shift taking place" in the Arab policy toward the Palestinian issue. "Saudi Arabia recognizes that Israel is an ally rather than an enemy because of the two principle threats that threaten them, Iran and Daesh," he told CNN's Fareed Zakaria on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos Friday.

Both Saudi Arabia and Israel are fiercely opposed to a nuclear accord between Iran and the West which came into force recently. They are worried the agreement could boost Iran's role in the region. Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that Israel was actively seeking to strengthen ties with Arab powers in the wake of the nuclear deal with Iran.

Daesh ideology is rooted in Wahhabism which is widely promoted by Saudi clerics and tolerated by the kingdom's rulers. Both Saudi Arabia and Israel support Takfiri groups fighting in Syria. Meanwhile, there is no known case of a Daesh attack on either Saudi or Israeli targets.


Comment: Don't fight the hands that feed you?


Netanyahu also said "there is a great shift taking place" in the Saudi-led policy toward the Palestinian issue, citing Israel's "relationships" with unknown Arab states. "By nurturing these relationships that are taking place now with the Arab world, that could actually help us resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and we're actually working towards that end," he said.

Comment: Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Sudan...who knew that Israel was making BFFs all over the Middle East? Solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? Nah. Netanyahu wants two things...to usurp Palestinian land and nail Iran as the regional enemy.

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Snakes in Suits

War monger Mitch McConnell moves to grant the President unlimited war powers with no expiration date

Michael Krieger
Liberty Blitzkrieg
Sat, 23 Jan 2016 13:51 UTC
Mitch McConnell
The essential act of war is destruction, not necessarily of human lives, but of the products of human labour. War is a way of shattering to pieces, or pouring into the stratosphere, or sinking in the depths of the sea, materials which might otherwise be used to make the masses too comfortable, and hence, in the long run, too intelligent.

- From George Orwell's, 1984
This morning, I came across an extremely important story with tremendous long-term negative implications for freedom in these United States. It relates to the fact that the always shady Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is moving to fast track an Authorization of Military Force (AUMF) for the President that would allow for unrestricted warfare against ISIS. There would be no time or geographic restrictions on this authorization. Rather than being a favor to President Obama, this is primarily a means to ensure that whoever takes control in 2017 receives a blank check for unrestrained militarism with no expiration date. This is terrifying.
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Wall Street

Goldman Sachs sends U.S. into economic recession, quickly retracts report's slide


RT
Fri, 22 Jan 2016 09:47 UTC
Goldman Sachs
Despite being "too big to fail", America's "most important bank" Goldman Sachs may have done so this week, at least for a few minutes, when it possibly tipped off a new economic recession.

A slide in the "Markets do not 'Take it Easy' to start the year" report posted online showed the US in a recession according to Goldman's Current Activity Indicator.

"Although EM assets remain in the cross-hairs - and the outlook there remains tenuous in spots - growth concerns have impacted the market's view of US and European growth as well, pushing our market-based measure of US growth risk to new post GFC lows (see Exhibit 8)," the report read.


Shortly after the financial watchdog website Zero Hedge tweeted their response, Goldman Sachs posted an altered slide, moving the dark blue line from zero to closer to two.


So if Goldman Sachs changed the chart, there's no recession, right?

Comment: Whether it's called corporatism or fascism, how much more blatant can you get?

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Newspaper

Russian coalition liberates another Syrian town, allows foreign media in to document the success (VIDEO)


Sputnik
Sat, 23 Jan 2016 13:45 UTC
Salma Syria
© AFP 2016/ YOUSSEF KARWASHAN
A group of foreign journalists got a chance to visit the recently liberated town of Salma in the Syrian province of Latakia. The Russian military showed the journalists the mountain resort city which was recently retaken from al-Nusra militants and other terrorist organizations.

The city once a thriving resort now lays in ruins with some areas still mined, but liberated from the stronghold of the terrorists. The journalists were able to witness the results of the Syrian army operation.

American, European, Chinese and Japanese reporters learned that they were going into newly liberated Salma, just a few minutes before arriving in the city - due to security reasons. All of them were given helmets and bulletproof vests, Vesti News reported.

Comment: See also:

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Bizarro Earth

NATO, a US cloaking device for global warfare, arms sales and multilateral support


Press TV
Sat, 23 Jan 2016 10:12 UTC
Stoltenberg, Carter
© AFP
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter, World Economics Forum.
The Pentagon chief's call on members of the US-led coalition against Daesh (ISIL) shows that the United States is exploiting NATO to advance its global warfare and arms sales, according to an international lawyer and analyst. "The United States cannot seem to make up its mind whether it wants a political solution in Syria and Iraq or a full military confrontation," Barry Grossman said in an interview with Press TV on Saturday.

"Of course, bearing in mind the way the United Nations-sponsored Syria talks have been engineered to fail, a person could be forgiven for assuming that any prospect for a political solution stands no chance given the US-led coalition's demands, its myriad objectives in the region which are inconsistent with peace and its unqualified commitment to escalating the use of force," he continued.

"While not so long ago, conventional wisdom considered NATO to be a relic of the Cold War that should be relegated to the dustbin of history, but its quite recent usefulness to US hawks as a tool for advancing belligerent US foreign policy cloaked with the legitimacy of multilateral support at times when the United Nations has been less than perfectly compliant, has given NATO a second lease on life which has now made it all but indispensable to the US-led war program," the analyst explained.

"Apart from creating the impression of broad-based multilateral support," Grossman said,"NATO also provides a convenient mechanism for the US to spread the cost of its now continuous global warfare and, at once, market its overpriced weapons technology to member countries."

Comment: A pretty accurate depiction, when we scratch the veneer. NATO is quite the tool and the US is plumbing it for all its estimated worth. How long will member states let this go on and what is their recourse should they be bold enough to say "enough!"?

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Bad Guys

You read it right: US wants Al-Qaeda's allies to govern Syria

Daniel McAdams
Ron Paul Institute for Peace
Sat, 23 Jan 2016 03:43 UTC
al qaeda
© Unknown
A Saudi-backed opposition committee representing the rebels fighting to overthrow the Assad government in Syria have agreed on a chief negotiator for peace talks scheduled to begin in Geneva next week. The rebels will be represented by Mohammed Alloush, political leader of Jaysh al-Islam.

Mohammed Alloush's brother, Zahran, led Jaysh al-Islam until he was killed in an airstrike at the end of December. Under Zahran's rule, Jaysh al-Islam was a fiercely Islamist group that insisted strict Sharia law must govern Syria. He maintained close ties with the al-Nusra Front, otherwise known as al-Qaeda in Syria.

John Landis, Director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, put together a detailed profile of the then-leader of Jaysh al-Islam. Should this group fulfill the US/Saudi/Turk/Israeli/Qatari wish of overthrowing Assad in Syria, there is little reason to believe the bloodshed would stop. In fact it may only really begin in earnest if they succeed in gaining power. Here is Landis on Zahran:
Zahran calls for cleansing Damascus of all Shiites and Nusayris. ("Nusayris" is the old term that referred to the Alawites prior to the adoption of "Alawite." It is considered a term of abuse by Alawites).

Comment: Also see: US continues to violate international law by occupying Syrian airbase

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Bad Guys

With friends like this... Israeli justice minister calls for Kurdish state


RT
Wed, 20 Jan 2016 02:55 UTC
Ayelet Shaked
© Gali Tibbon / Reuters
Ayelet Shaked, Israel's Justice Minister of the far-right Jewish Home party.
Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked has spoken out in favor of an independent Kurdish state. She also urged increased cooperation between Israel and the Kurdish people. Shaked sees this as an opportunity to weaken Israel's rivals in the region.


Comment: Below Shaked is quoted as labeling one such enemy as ISIS. Surely she jests: Israeli defense minister would 'prefer ISIS' in open conflict over Iran


"We must openly call for the establishment of a Kurdish state that separates Iran from Turkey, one which will be friendly towards Israel," Shaked told the annual INSS security conference in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, as cited by the Times of Israel.

More precisely, Shaked proposed the new state be founded between Turkey, Israel and Iraq.

The minister stressed that Israel should "promote steps that would correct the injustice that [made Kurds] the biggest nation without a state," BasNews reported. She also emphasized that "the Kurds are an ancient people with thousands of years of history, and a democratic nation" - one that has "never attacked any other nation."

For Shaked, this isn't just about driving a regional wedge between all the countries that could not accommodate a separate Kurdish state.

Comment: The fate of the Kurds has been a travesty. But to add insult to historical injury, they are courted by American and Israeli patrons who only care about using them to achieve their own ends, after which the Kurds will be thrown away, like all other Anglo-Zionist 'assets'. Back away slowly, Kurdistan, back away slowly. And remember who really supports ISIS; they happen to be the very same people courting you.

Is this the kind of person whose support you will accept?

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Play

South Front: Syrian army continues offensive in Damascus, Turkey preparing to invade


South Front
Sat, 23 Jan 2016 01:46 UTC
south front
International Military Review - Syria, Jan. 22


Comment:

See also:

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Network

Pentagon: New agency to secure OPM background checks on federal employees and contractors


Press TV
Fri, 22 Jan 2016 08:44 UTC
background checks
© www.govexec.com
The Pentagon plans to secure the millions of background check forms exposed in 2014 during the hacks of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). The Obama administration said on Friday that it will set up a new agency to do background checks on all the employees and contractors.

The National Background Investigations Bureau (NBIB) will handle background investigations for almost the entire federal government, the White House said on Friday.

However, the Defense Department has undertaken to design, build, secure and operate the NBIB's entire information technology system.
"This approach will leverage DOD's significant national security, IT and cybersecurity expertise, incorporating security into the fundamental design of the systems, strengthening the security of the data environment, and providing robust privacy protections," the OPM said.
Last year, the names, addresses, Social Security numbers and other sensitive information of approximately 22 million current and former federal employees and contractors as well as applicants for federal jobs and individuals listed on background check forms were exposed.

Comment: A timely and extensive breach of personal background information is enabling the PTB to install tighter oversight, implement another layer of security policy, systematically reduce clearances and increase frequency of reinvestigations. The untrustworthy Chinese? A false flag? The result: an entire technology system overhaul 'to protect and assuage the public.'

See also: Blackmail opportunity? More than 48,000 federal employees affected by background check hack

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Jet2

US continues to violate international law by occupying Syrian airbase

Jason Ditz
Russia Insider
Fri, 22 Jan 2016 14:30 UTC
US troop helicopter occupy Syrian airbase
Albeit they're not welcome by the Syrian government

The Kurdish dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are reporting today that US troops have taken over control of the Rmeilan airfield in northeastern Syria's Hasakeh Province, the first US military base inside Syria.

The SDF reported that the Kurdish YPG, their largest faction, previously controlled the base and handed sole control over it to the US, as a route for the US to bring them weapons and to launch warplanes from.

Rmeilan Airport is not a military airfield by design, and was primarily for crop-dusting and agriculture. It is unclear, then, the extent to which it'll really be used by the US as a base for warplanes. The US generally launches such planes from Turkey, though Turkey has loudly objected to the US aiding the Kurds.

Comment: "Legally dicey?" There's nothing dicey about it: it's illegal. So as usual, the US is going where it's not wanted and assumes that it owns the world and is entitled to do whatever it wants in other sovereign countries. How would Americans react if Syria came to the US and took over an airbase?

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